TUAOA: Every Woman Loves A Man That Will Listen 2
by lulamaemobster
Summary: Naruto continues to deal with the relationships that he's unwittingly found himself in just by being his usual helpful self.
1. Ino's First Time

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AND/OR THE CHARACTERS**

**BEFORE I GET STARTED, I'D JUST LIKE TO SAY THAT I CLEARED IT WITH ALPHA T. SIGMA AND I'VE BEEN GIVEN PERMISSION TO CONTINUE THIS STORY. IT'S ONE OF THE FIRST I'VE READ WHEN I FOUND THIS SITE AND STILL ONE OF MY FAVORITES. WELL, ON WITH THE SHOW. CHECK OUT THE STORY "EVERY WOMAN LOVES A MAN THAT WILL LISTEN" IF YOU WANT SOME BACKGROUND.**

**Ino's First Time**

Ino was walking through the village and all eyes were on her as she wore the tight purple outfit she wore before her debilitating battle with anorexia. Ever since she began to spend time with Naruto, she began to feel more secure with herself and felt the need to purge herself after every meal go away. What also helped was that she began working out with Naruto which burned the calorie intake and balanced it out, soon she was back to her fabulous figure that drove the guys wild. However, see was interested in driving only one guy wild, the one she was going to see for their first official night date. Before this night, all of their dates were during the day time and those didn't exactly scream relationship.

"Maybe this will get us on our way," she thought ignoring the cat calls from the guys she passed.

"Can I lick your ass, Ino?"

"You lookin' fine, Ino."

She knocked on his door and he answered shirtless.

"You're early," he said with a smile. "Couldn't wait?"

"Something like that."

"Well, I was about to shower, come in and wait."

She entered the door and he closed it behind her giving him an excuse to take a look at her ass, an added bonus to kicking anorexia was the enjoyment she got whenever Naruto would sneak a peak or cop a feel.

"Help yourself to whatever's in the fridge," he said as he squeezed her ass before heading upstairs.

"Hurry, and stop being so fresh," she said playfully.

She faked him out by heading to the kitchen until she heard him going into the shower.

"Now's my chance," she thought as she began to sneak upstairs.

She used her shinobi skills and stealthily headed up the stairs, she checked the door to the bathroom and found it unlocked. She went inside as quiet as she could, the noise from the shower helped with that and she managed to sneak a peak at Naruto's manhood while he was in the shower.

"I just love how it looks," she thought. "Nice."

She heard him make noises as if he was finished and snuck back out, she went back downstairs and wait on him when she got hungry and decided to take him up on his earlier offer. She went into the kitchen and eventually found something.

"Score," she thought as she took a banana.

Although she had begun eating again, she didn't overdo it and usually ate healthy with the rare occasions being when she'd have lunch with Naruto. By coincidence, she began eating the banana at the same time he came downstairs and the way she ate it mesmerized him. The site of Naruto's body aroused her deeply and she began imagining him as she ate it causing her to slide the banana between her lips as supposed to just biting it as he watched.

"Oh, Naruto," she said as she noticed him. "You ready?"

"Hell, yeah," he said with a lustful look in his eye.

The look didn't go unnoticed and she knew that he didn't mean "ready to go." They began to make out as she pulled up her skirt, he bent her over the table and slid her panties to the side to find that she was already wet from the site of him. He slid inside of her and began to give it to her what they both wanted.

"Oh, Naruto," she moaned from the stroke of his member.

"I love your ass," he said watching her ass cheeks jiggle as his hips slammed into her.

He soon felt her walls spasm around his member and they had simultaneous orgasms on his kitchen table.

"I was hoping we'd get to do that again," she said catching her breath.

This wasn't their first sexual encounter, as she gave him her virginity the instant she felt comfortable showing him her body. A few days ago, she stepped out of the shower with her towel wrapped around her, no longer concerned with her weight, she'd long thrown her scale out. She stood in front of her vanity mirror thinking to what Naruto had told her.

"He said that I'd be beautiful even if I weighed 500 pounds," she said to herself. "Here goes."

She took the towel off and got a view of her body, it was amazing how good she looked. Improving her diet and working out with Naruto had transformed her body, her hips were full and her breasts were a good size, not D like Hinata or EEE like Tsunade but comparable to Sakura's, at least.

"I've got to be a good C."

Her hips were full and her legs were shapely, her muscles had a beautiful tone to go along with her hourglass frame.

"I wonder how my butt looks."

She turned around and got a view of her ass.

"Awesome!"

Her ass was amazing, it was a nice round bubble in the shape of an apple.

"Soft and smooth," she said as she grabbed a handful of herself. "That working out hasn't made it hard. I'd do me, I wonder if Naruto will."

Her thoughts ran to Naruto as she was now afforded a grand opportunity, she had never known the touch of a man and wanted to know what it was like. Due to anxiety over constant rejection and her shame of the way her body looked, the most she'd ever done was masturbate when she could and even that was difficult because she was usually sickened by the feel of her own body. She broke out her old purple skirt and top to give it a try.

"Skirts a little tight but that may help," she thought. "I don't plan on wearing it long anyway, he should be here soon."

She was right, Naruto knocked on the door and she took her time to answer it not wanting to seem too anxious.

"Hey, Ino, Ichiraku's callin' our name," he said as he hadn't noticed her due to looking at something that had caught his interest in the village.

She just stood there waiting for him to turn around and notice her, whatever it was that caught his eye in the village was over and he began to notice her silence.

"You read…" he began but the vision of her stopped him as he turned his attention to her.

"Yes! He's totally spacing right now," she thought as she watched him looking at her body. "See something you like?"

"Uh-huh," he nodded honestly.

"Well, he's never been one for lying," she thought. "Could I talk you before we go, Naruto?"

"Huh? What?" he asked snapping out of it. "Yeah."

He followed her inside gazing at her ass from behind, she sat him down on her couch and his attention turned from her ass to her breasts.

"His eyes are all over me," she thought. "I'm up here, you perv."

"Yeah, you stay up there."

She folded her arms over her chest to cut off his view.

"Ino, what's up?" he said as if he'd just met her.

"Well, there's something I was wondering if you'd help me with, Naruto," she said a little nervously.

"Here we go again," he thought as he recognized the situation and the look on her face. "What is it?"

"Well, I don't know if you know this but I haven't been the most confident person around," she admitted.

"I figured as much," he said.

"You did?" she asked surprised.

"I could tell by the way you picked fights with Sakura."

"How?"

"When we were younger, it was just a matter of trying to make yourself look better to Sasuke but eventually he wasn't even a factor in your arguments and you started to sound as if you were just trying to keep up."

"That's very perceptive of you," she said.

He just chuckled as he always did when people were surprised at how perceptive he really is.

"Well…"

She explained her situation to him over the years and he sat and listened as he usually did until she was finished.

"Wow, you were anorexic?"

"That's why I wore those baggy clothes but hanging around you brought back my confidence," she said. "That's why I was able to wear this today."

"I'm glad I could help," he said with a grin.

"Well, back to you helping me," she said struggling as her nerve left her again. "I want you to make love to me, Naruto."

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah, I've never been with anyone that way," she said as she began to fidget and look around to avoid eye contact. "It doesn't have to mean anything if you don't want it to, but, I just want to know what it's like and I want it to be you."

A few months ago, he'd have been extremely nervous about this but since he began his rendezvous with Tenten and Kin, he didn't even flinch. He put his hand on her chin and turned her head to face him then surprised her with a deep kiss on the lips.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"More than anything," she said.

"You're wrong about something, though."

"What?" she asked.

"It means a lot to me that you asked me."

She took him by the hand and led him to her bedroom, where he took control as he pulled her in close for another kiss. He undressed her to expose those features he was so appreciative of earlier and froze in surprise, she kissed him to bring back to reality as she began to undress him. He laid her on the bed and started kissing her on her neck, she quivered from his touch as her trailed those kisses down her body. He swirled his tongue around one of her nipples as he squeezed the other, then took her hand and replaced the hand he used to squeeze her nipple with it while he moved his hand down to rub her womanhood causing her to moan and writhe underneath him. He placed her other hand on her other breast as he continued down her body, the journey ended when his mouth reached its destination. He licked and sucked her lips and clit while he fingered her causing her moaning and writhing to increase with the flowing of her juices, she let out a deep shuddering moan as she squirted her nectar from cumming. He climbed back over her and looked at her in her eyes.

"You're sure you're ready," his eyes asked.

"Yes," she nodded.

She jumped a little from the new sensation of feeling a man at her entrance and her eyes widened while her face grimaced as he slid in slowly until her reached some resistance. He studied her face for any signs that he should continue, when her face straightened, he took it as confirmation to go on. He started to thrust into her and the discomfort soon transformed into pleasure as she started to get into it, she turned him over to his back and started to ride him letting out her years of repression.

"This is her first time?" he thought surprised.

Her moaning intensified as he reached up and massaged her breasts.

"Oh, Naruto," she moaned.

She quickened her pace until she tightened up around him and they found their release together, she fell on top of him breathing hard.

"Thank you," she said.

"You don't have to do that," he answered.

She snuggled up to him as she swirled his words around in her head.

"I guess that's Naruto for you," she thought. "As long as I've known him, I've never had to thank him for anything. I should have noticed him earlier but hopefully this will become something more."

While she drifted off into sleep, he had thoughts in his head too.

"What's going on around here?" he thought. "What's so special about me? Maybe it's that new shirt, the girl at the store did say it would drive the girls crazy."

As he waxed philosophic on why he seemed to be the object of desire for most of his female friends for the better part of a year, he noticed the time.

"I gotta meet Grandma," he said.

As he got out of bed, the shift woke Ino and she grabbed his arm.

"Where are you going?"

"I gotta meet Grandma about a mission," he answered.

"No, you're not leaving," she said.

"Oh, yes I am," he said. "I can't be late."

"Make her wait."

"I can't, she gets all homicidal when…"

She lifted the sheets to show her body off again.

"Yeah, she can wait," he said as he climbed back into bed with her.

She was still bent over table with him standing behind her.

"You still want to go out?" he asked.

"Yeah."

She didn't really want to go but she wanted people to see her out with Naruto and her new figure.

"Okay, but we're going to do it again."

"What?"

"I'm still hard, I can't walk outside like this," he pleaded.

"Just be quick."

"I can't make that promise."

They went at it again on his kitchen table and left for their date, Ino talked him into going to a nightclub. As he really wasn't one for club hopping, he didn't know that it was a club that was frequented by his friends. They entered the club and were immediately targeted by Tenten, Kin, Sakura, and Hinata.

"He took her here?" Kin asked. "She must've made a move."

"I'm not worried," Tenten said. "Not after our date."

Sakura just glared at them as she clenched her fist so hard that she actually broke skin in her palm, she quickly healed it while no one was looking as Hinata only had one thought in her head.

"I'm glad Kiba's not here," she thought. "I couldn't take it if they got into a fight like they did before."

They tried to be uninterested but the way they danced together drew their attention as she merely grounded her privates on him as his hands were all over her body. As the four kunoichi were looking on in duress, Anko and Kurenai noticed Naruto and Ino as well.

"I can't believe Naruto's dancing like that," Kurenai said.

"Yeah, it's a little freaky but it's just a slow dance," Anko said.

"But it's a fast song," Kurenai said.

Later that night, Hinata came home thinking about what dominated her thinking lately, the fight she caused between Naruto and Kiba. It was after she kissed Naruto which she knew was wrong but couldn't help herself, later that day, she met with Kiba who caught a whiff of his scent on her. He played it off but her Hyuuga perceptiveness caught the slight reaction in his face.

"Are you okay, Kiba?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," he lied. "Well, shall we?"

"Okay," she said hesitantly.

Later in the week, as the girls were having their Girls Night Out, the guys were having a Guy's Night Out. They had begun this ritual in response to their female counterparts, instead of meeting at a bar as they did, they brought their own liquor to Guy's dojo to hang out or even do some sparring. Sometimes they even brought a female or two for entertainment, which was all Jiraiya's idea they all secretly swore to say if they were ever found out. This particular evening was about to prove very eventful as Kiba as seething anger, anger that was directed at Naruto.

"How 'bout some sparring," Kiba asked Naruto.

"Sure," Naruto said with a thinking nothing of it.

The moment he said that, Kiba snuck him and knocked him to the ground. Everyone there could see that wasn't a punch someone would throw in a sparring session, Naruto got up and tried to retaliate but he was held back.

"What the hell's your problem?" Naruto shouted.

"You stay the hell away from her!" Kiba answered.

"From who?"

"Hinata!"

Naruto immediately put two and two together.

"He must've smelled me on her," Naruto thought. "It's not my fault, she's th…"

Naruto stopped as he thought about what he was going to say and how it would've made her look.

"She what?" Kiba demanded.

"She's too hot for you, fella," Naruto said with a smirk on his face. "You should've seen this comin', one of us bound to take a run at her. I'm just surprised she turned me down, believe it."

"What?" Kiba shouted as he broke through their friends holding him back.

Naruto was let go and they began their "sparring session" which was merely a fist fight.

"Just don't use any jutsu," Kakashi shouted.

Jiraiya, Kakashi, Guy, Yamato, Sasuke, Lee, Choji, Shikamaru, Sai, Shino, Iruka, Genma, Izumo, and Kotetsu watched as Naruto and Kiba fought it out. This what Naruto planned on, he'd save Hinata's reputation, atone for his part in it, and, hopefully, let Kiba blow off some steam. They traded punches with very little defense until they noticed that Kiba had activated his Beast Mimicry Jutsu and some of the Nine Tailed Foxes Chakra began to escape as Naruto lost himself in the brutality.

"Okay, time to break it up," Jiraiya said.

Jiraiya had to use his seal to repress the fox while it took Choji using Partial Expansion to hold Kiba back.

"Get off me, I'm goin'," he said as Choji let him go to leave.

He pointed a finger at Naruto as a warning while he left to go home and let his sister heal him. Jiraiya, Kakashi, Sasuke, Yamato and Sai took Naruto to be healed as he purposely took more punishment. As it happened, the closest medic happened to be Tsunade and Sakura as the bar was actually closer than the hospital. They barged in with Naruto in tow causing quite a scene.

"Naruto?" all of the younger girls asked concerned.

"What happened?" Tenten asked.

Naruto just smiled through the blood coming from his broken nose and busted lips to match his severely bruised face.

"When it's time to party, we party hard."

"Do you mind healing Naruto, Sakura?" Sasuke asked. "It looks like Lady Tsunade's not up to it."

Sakura healed Naruto's face and knuckles while Tsunade was passed out drunk.

"How did this happen?" Shizune asked Kakashi in hopes of the straight answer Naruto wouldn't give.

"Uh, he and Kiba got into a fight," Kakashi said after Naruto was healed.

"What?" Tsunade asked as hearing the news sobered her up.

Every female looked in Hinata's direction.

"What did you do?" Tsunade asked.

"Nothing," she lied. "I have to go check on Kiba."

She left before they could question her any further as Ino and Kin looked at each other and Ino communicated with her telepathically.

"I told you she wasn't out of the way completely," Ino said.

"You were right," Kin agreed.

Hinata just lied in her bed with tears in her eyes at the trouble she caused between the former friends.

"I shouldn't have done that," she thought as she cried herself to sleep.


	2. Sakura's Concern

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AND/OR THE CHARACTERS**

**Sakura's Concern**

Tenten was training with her teammates and Neji still couldn't believe how Tenten's mood was affected by Naruto. Being himself, he kept his thoughts a secret as he observed the two of them interacting.

"Okay, that's enough," Guy said. "Go and rest, that way you can recharge your youthfulness."

Tenten left shaking her head at Guy and Lee's antics.

"Those two will never change," she thought. "Oh, well, I've got a date with Naruto tonight."

As she made her way to her home to get ready, she bumped into Sakura coming from the hospital.

"Hey, how's it going," Tenten asked.

"Fine," Sakura said forcing a smile. "Where are you off to?"

"Oh, I have a date with Naruto tonight."

"Another one?"

"Yes," Tenten said after hearing a hint of jealousy in Sakura's voice.

Ever since Tenten began taking steps to bring her and Naruto into more of a relationship by taking what they had public, she sensed some animosity from Sakura.

"You two seem to be getting along well," Sakura said.

"Yeah, he's great to be with. Well, I gotta go, I have a lotta preparing to do. He just loves it when I wear my hair a certain way."

Naruto didn't really care but Tenten felt the need to rub it in Sakura's face.

"Bitch," Sakura thought. "Bye, Tenten."

"Bye, Sakura."

Kin was at Anko's house talking about her favorite guy.

"So, what are you going to do about Ino and Tenten?"

"I don't know," Kin answered. "Ino and I have acknowledged each other as competing for his heart but Tenten has the head start over both of us."

"What you need to do is make yourself stand out."

"How," Kin asked.

"I don't know but you have to make him see something in you that the other girls don't have."

Kin thought about her mentor's words in regards to how to make Naruto her and hers alone, elsewhere, Moegi and Hanabi were talking about the recent events, Hinata, in particular.

"She definitely did something," Hanabi said. "That's the only thing that could make Kiba and Naruto this mad at each other."

"But your sister isn't like that," Moegi said. "This is the girl that stepped aside to let Sakura do what she did to him we're talking about here."

"That may be the case but how would you feel if you had to look at the person you love without being able to do something about for as long as she has," Hanabi said astutely. "Something had to give and it may have been her giving it to Naruto."

"You've been working on that, haven't you?" Moegi asked.

"Could you tell?"

"You were forcing it a little," Moegi said with a smile.

"Anyway, I think Kin might be up to something," Hanabi said. "You think?"

"I don't know, maybe. It's not like I know her like that."

"Did you see her face when Naruto walked in that night? I knew Ino and Tenten were trying their hands with him but I think she may be too."

"Or it could've been his horrifically damaged face," Moegi said.

"Trust me, that was a look of genuine concern like Ino, Tenten, my sister and that other one had on their faces. Not like Kurenai, Shizune, and Anko-sensei had on theirs."

"I guess but I have to run," Moegi said getting ready to leave. "We have training today, bye."

"Bye."

As Moegi left, she had one thought.

"My birthday's coming up and I'll be 18 soon," Moegi thought. "Maybe I'll be able to make him see me as a woman."

Tsunade was in her office when Naruto and Kiba were brought before her by Jiraiya and Kakashi after having gotten into another fight.

"What happened now?" Tsunade asked.

Kiba was walking through the village when he caught a whiff of Naruto's scent, he looked up to find Naruto walking his way. Naruto noticed him and the two locked eyes as they approached each other, everything was okay until someone bumped into Naruto as they passed each other. Naruto bumped into Kiba and another brawl ensued between the two of them.

"Look, I understand the tensions brought on between the two of you," she said as she healed their faces. "But I have to ask, will this get in the way of your duties as a shinobi?"

"No," they said as they glared at each other.

"I have your word?"

"Yes."

"Good, you're dismissed, Kiba."

"Yes, ma'am."

On the way out, he pushed Naruto who had to be restrained.

"I'm really getting tired of you," Naruto screamed as his masters held him back.

"Quiet, Naruto," Tsunade said. "And don't you push it, Kiba."

Naruto calmed down as Kiba finally left, she watched out of her window to make sure he was out of the range of his enhanced dog like hearing.

"Now, what did you do?" Tsunade asked Naruto.

"I didn't do anything," Naruto said.

"That's not what you told him," Jiraiya said. "He told him that he took a run at Hinata."

"Why the hell would you do that?" Tsunade asked. "I thought you knew better than that."

"I just said that to keep Hinata from looking bad."

"What?"

"Well, she came by and we talked, then she told me how she used to like me but took a step back and started dating Kiba when she thought that Sakura and I would get together but when…" Naruto trailed off as what Sakura did was still a tender subject for him to discuss. "Well, she was already dating Kiba when I was back on the market then she kissed me because she never thought she'd get the chance again."

"I see, he must've caught your scent on her afterwards," Jiraiya said.

"Seems that way," Tsunade said. "Well, it was nice of you to protect her honor like that."

"That's one reason I told him that," Naruto admitted.

"What was the other?" Kakashi asked.

"I wanted to let him blow off some steam and make up for not stopping the kiss."

"Well, that explains why you purposely took the worse of that fight," Kakashi said. "I could tell you weren't fighting that hard. Unlike just now."

"Well, between that and your two other little girlfriends," Tsunade said. "You've become somewhat of a ladies man."

"Yeah, I don't understand it either," Naruto said. "Why me all of the sudden?"

"That's easy, you have something other guys don't," Tsunade said.

"Ew, Grandma," Naruto said in disgust. "I don't want to hear you talk about my you know what."

"Boy, I've given a physical before," she said. "And don't call me Grandma. I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about listening skills."

"Really?"

"Yeah, whenever I came to visit you at your home and we spoke, you actually listen to me instead of looking at my breasts like most men do. Here's an example, come here Jiraiya."

"Yeah?"

"Today, I snuck off to the local gambling parlor and I lost a few mon…"

Jiraiya stood in front of her and she began to speak but all he did was look at her breasts.

"Now, repeat what I just said," she asked after she was finished telling him about her day.

"Something about your darn bra being too tight and how you'd love for someone to rub ice cold ointment on them for some soothing relief."

"You know, if wasn't proving a point I'd choke you," she said in annoyance. "Then there are guys like Kakashi who aren't paying attention half of the time.

"Hm?" Kakashi asked. "I'm sorry were you saying something?"

"See?"

"Oh, so that's it?" Naruto asked. "Well, at least I know now."

"What are you going to do about your current situation with Kiba? This needs to be resolved before it goes on any further."

"As soon as I figure out a way to do it without making Hinata look bad, I will."

"You could…" Jiraiya began before Tsunade cut him off.

"What'd I tell you about giving him guidance?"

"Only when it comes to being a shinobi," Jiraiya recited.

"Only when it comes to being a shinobi."

Later that night, Naruto was on his date with Tenten, they went to a fancy restaurant she suggested after hearing they had pretty decent ramen. She wore the outfit and jewelry he bought her for giving him her flower, as they were being shown to their table, the ran into Sasuke and Sakura who were out on the rare night he wasn't taking lives as an ANBU and she wasn't saving them at the hospital.

"Naruto?" Sakura said as they almost passed without noticing.

"Oh, hey, Sakura" Naruto said. "I didn't even see you guys there. What's going on, Sasuke?"

"Naruto, Tenten," Sasuke greeted.

"How are you, Sasuke, Sakura?" Tenten greeted back.

"Oh, we're just here for a night out on the town seeing as we don't have anything to do tonight," Sakura said.

"So, how's the food here?" Naruto asked. "Tenten said they have pretty decent ramen."

"It's not as good as Ichiraku's," Sasuke said. "Their sushi is better."

"Hey, I have an idea," Sakura said. "Why don't you guys join us?"

"Are you sure?" Sasuke asked her. "I don't mind."

"Do you mind?" Naruto asked Tenten.

"Oh, I'm sure Sasuke wants some alone time with her," Tenten said trying to maintain her own alone time with Naruto.

"I'm okay with it if she is," he said.

"Son of bitch," she thought behind a smile. "Okay, then."

They joined the couple and their date became a double date, despite the slight tension between Sakura and Tenten, it was enjoyable as Naruto told them stories with Sasuke who seemed to loosened up a bit.

"So, I make this big grand entrance announcing my arrival to Zabuza and Haku," Naruto said as they all laughed. "Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke are like 'What the hell is he doing?'"

"Then we thought that everything would be okay as long as he stayed outside of the dome of mirrors," Sasuke added. "I don't know how he got that fast but one minute he was outside the next he was inside with me and had gotten himself trapped too."

They all laughed at Naruto's childhood antics as a shinobi.

"Hey, you remember the Valley of The End?" Naruto asked.

"Valley of the End?" Tenten asked confused. "Oh, you mean when Sasuke left?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Sasuke asked confused.

"Well, you remember earlier at the hospital when you said that I couldn't lay a scratch on your forehead protector?"

"Yeah?"

"Then when at the valley when you were coming at me with your Chidori and I was coming at you with my Rasengan?"

"Yeah?"

"Well," Naruto began to say to everyone. "There we are charging at each other, I'm using some of the fox's chakra and he has his Curse Mark amped up a bit. We have our two most powerful attacks aimed at each other then I start to thinking 'This is Sasuke, he's basically my brother. I can't Rasengan him' so I let the Rasengan go and I ended up putting the aforementioned scratch on his forehead protector while he gives me the Chidori to the chest. He's thinking I'm dead or, at least incapacitated and leaves, what he didn't know is that I could hear him still. You remember what you said?"

"No," Sasuke said. "It was so long ago."

"You said, 'I can't believe he scratched my forehead protector." Naruto said as they began laughing.

"I did?"

"Yeah, if I wasn't dying, I'd have been laughing in your face."

"Hey, I'm sorry about the Chidori to the chest," Sasuke said after laughing.

"Yeah, man," Naruto said still laughing a little. "That shit hurt."

"Uh, think I'm going to make a run to the ladies room," Sakura said.

"I'll come with you," Tenten said as she followed her to the bathroom.

They got to the bathroom and began checking themselves out in the mirror.

"So, who are things between you and Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Great," Tenten said. "He's as sweet as can be and a great joy to be around, how 'bout you and Sasuke?"

"Wonderful as always," Sakura said. "Look at this new necklace he bought me."

"It's nice," Tenten replied.

At the table, Naruto and Sasuke were just waiting for them to come back, for some reason, he began to think about Jiraiya.

"I wonder where Pervy Sage is," he said to Sasuke.

"I don't know," Sasuke replied.

"He's probably at a sake tasting party," Naruto said.

Jiraiya was at sake tasting party at the home of the local sake maker.

"Damn," Jiraiya said after taking a sip. "This is some good ass sake."

Back at the restaurant, Naruto came to realization.

"Oh, no."

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"He's gonna be mad if they didn't tell him how good the sake was," Naruto said.

Back at the party, an angry Jiraiya walked up the sake maker.

"How come you didn't tell me how good the sake was, huh, motherfucker?"

Jiraiya slapped him, that's when one of the other guests came up to check on the situation.

"What are you looking at, you Nobunaga Oda looking motherfucker?" Jiraiya asked before giving him a slap as well. "You should've told me how good the sake was."

In the ladies room, Tenten and Sakura were continuing their conversation.

"If there's one thing I'm glad for," Sakura said. "It's that I don't have to compete for Sasuke any more, _I_ have _my_ man all to _myself._"

"There's no competition," Tenten said as Sakura's meaning wasn't lost on her. "I'm one hundred percent positive that he'll be happier with me than he could possibly be with any other woman in the world. I mean, it's not like I'm just going to drop him to the side the minute I think someone better shows up or comes back."

At the table, Naruto and Sasuke continued to talk and their conversation went over to the women they were with for the evening.

"So, you're dating Tenten too?" Sasuke asked. "You're doing well for yourself."

"Hey, man, there's nothing wrong with a few friends, right?"

"Still, even I was a little concerned about you after the way things went down."

"Yeah, well, it's not like you did anything but I think I just got over it," Naruto said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, even just a few hours ago, I'd have found some reason to avoid Sakura but I didn't think anything of it when she invited us to sit down."

"Good for you, by the way," Sasuke said. "I know about you and Kin."

"You do?" Naruto said. "How?"

"I caught her coming out of your house as my ANBU squad and I were on patrol."

"Well, don't tell anybody, I don't think anyone knows about her other than Ino and I don't think she knows what level Kin and I are on."

"Right," Sasuke said.

"What about you and Sakura?" Naruto asked. "When should I start buying wedding gifts?"

"Things are going okay."

"Just okay?" Naruto asked. "I thought you two were love dovey."

"Yeah, well, sometimes it feels like something's a little off about our relationship," Sasuke confessed.

"Really, what?"

"I don't know but I just chalk it up to being in a long-term relationship."

Sakura and Tenten eventually came back and they continued their date until the two couples went their separate ways for the evening. Tenten and Naruto went on a nice moonlit stroll through the village.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked Naruto.

"Nothing," he answered. "Just enjoying being here with you."

His answer earned him a kiss from her on the cheek, after they walked through the village, they headed for his home for the evening. Over the next few days, Sakura watched as Naruto was juggling the three women after Kin made her move and went on a date with him and grew increasingly frustrated, especially when she saw Temari's subtle affections for him when she came to visit the village. One day, she was sent to his house to deliver a message from the hokage, she knocked on his door to find him home alone to her surprise.

"Hey, Sakura," he said. "Come on in."

"I came with a message from Lady Tsunade," she said as she entered his house. "She wants you to report to her office for a mission tomorrow."

"Is that all?"

"Yes."

"Okay," he said. "I was about to make something to eat, you want to join me?"

"Uh, sure," she said. "I haven't eaten yet. Wait, it's not ramen, is it?"

"No, I've learned that the ladies aren't as big a fan of ramen as I am, so I've begun to appreciate other dishes."

They talked as he made their food, they ate and she found that it was very good.

"Wow, Naruto, this is delicious."

"Thanks."

She looked around and saw that he had some new decorations in his house.

"Where'd you get these flowers?" she asked. "I've never seen them in Ino's shop."

"Uh, they're from my garden but she helped me with them, though."

"You have a garden?"

"Yeah, you didn't know?

"No."

She looked around and saw a sword on a rack in his living room with a learning scroll next to it and a wind chime in his door that she figured that was from Tenten and Kin, this all made her feelings well up inside her and she had to ask him something.

"Naruto, don't you think all of these girls all around you may be a bit much?"

"What?" he asked confused.

"I mean, do you think all of these girls chasing after you is good for you?"

"Why do you ask?"

"It's just that I'm concerned about you, that's all."

Naruto just leaned back in his chair as he took in her words and tried to figure her motives.

"Why are you so concerned?"

"I don't know, it's because maybe they don't like you for you."

"So, what do you want me to do, get rid of them or something?"

"I just don't want to see you get hurt, Naruto."

Naruto's face dropped as he heard what she just said.

"You really didn't just say that, did you?"

"Naruto, I…"

"You don't want to see me get hurt?" he asked. "You have no right to talk to me about that after what you did. The funny thing is that you know what it felt like to be abandoned and you did the same thing to me, you couldn't even give me the courtesy of letting me down easy, could you? I mean, I worshipped the ground you walked on, if you'd have asked me to kill Lady Tsunade, I'd have thought about it."

She surmised that he was serious from him calling her Lady Tsunade instead of Grandma.

"That's how much I was into you, I mean, I missed out on Hinata, a beautiful, kind, and caring woman because I chased after you and when she drew up enough courage to speak to me, she sacrificed her happiness for mine because she thought that we'd end up together. And now that there's happiness staring me in the face, all I have to do is make a choice and you don't want to see me get hurt? Thanks for the concern but fuck you."

His words hit her like a ton of bricks, so hard that she didn't know what to think.

"I didn't know you felt that way, Naruto. I'll leave now."

"Wait," he said. "I didn't mean to say all of that."


	3. Holes In His Chest

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AND/OR THE CHARACTERS**

**Holes In His Chest**

"Its okay, Naruto," Sakura said with a smile. "I say things I don't mean all the time."

"I said I didn't mean to say all of that," he corrected her. "I meant everything I said just not 'fuck you.'"

"Oh."

"It's just that you don't know how hard it was for me after it happened? I mean I cried, I actually cried, I felt like my whole world was destroyed."

Naruto came back to the village after his two and a half year training pilgrimage with Jiraiya, upon his return, he promptly rejoined Team Kakashi and began to take on the enemies of the Leaf. Time passed and, as if fortune smiled upon him, Naruto and Sakura grew closer together, enough for her to ask him for a date.

"Really?" Naruto asked. "A date? You and me?"

"Yeah," she said. "But it's just because you remembered my birthday."

"Okay," he said excitedly. "So, what do you want to do?"

"Uh, I don't know, surprise me."

Naruto thought about it and came up with an idea.

"How about we see Koyuki Kazahana's new movie?" he suggested. "I'm her hugest fan so that's good for me and it's a chick flick so that's good for you."

"Wow, you really thought that out that quickly?" she said. "I'm impressed that you're so considerate."

He just smiled and followed her as she led them to the movies, they sat in the movie theatre and she actually seemed to enjoy their date. At one point during the movie, Princess Gale's boyfriend left her much as Sasuke did her and tears began to fall from her eyes, Naruto wrapped his arms around her shoulders and she leaned her head on his. He knew why she was crying from the scene but did his self imposed duty of consolation and to everyone who saw them, it seemed as if they were two young kids in love.

"Well, well," Kakashi said in the audience as he caught sight of them while watching one of his favorite books being turned into cinema. "It looks like you're finally winning something other than a fight, Naruto."

After the movie, they went to a restaurant she wanted to go to and talked about the movie.

"That was a great movie," she said. "Good call, Naruto."

"Thanks," he said with a grin. "What was your favorite part?"

"When her boyfriend came back to her at the end, what about you?"

"I don't know," he said thinking. "I thought she should've gone with her friend who was there for her when he left but when it comes to Koyuki Kazahana movies, I'm easy."

After they ate, he walked her home and she surprised him with something he'd never expected her to do.

"Thanks for the date, Naruto," she said after giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"I'll never wash this face again."

She laughed as she went into the house, and he walked home as giddy as can be thinking about their date. A couple of years passed and their relationship grew deeper, as their peers watched, they all showed that they were happy for the couple but some of them were masking other emotions. Lee was disappointed as he thought he may have had a shot with Sakura after Sasuke's defection, Kin was frustrated as she never had the chance to really make a move on Naruto since he spent all of his time battling the Akatsuki with Sakura before they got together. Sakura thought that Ino showed her happiness for her the same way she usually did by teasing her about being with Naruto and not Sasuke but on the inside, Ino was extremely jealous that Sakura was always surrounded by guys who wanted to date her, then there was Hinata. Learning from Naruto, she was able to hide her pain very well, even fooling the people who knew of her long time infatuation with Naruto, all except Neji who was very adept at reading people.

"You don't have to hide it from me," he told Hinata when he found a moment alone with her. "I can see that it hurts you."

Knowing how futile it was to keep her façade up, she just let it out.

"I want to be happy for Naruto now that he's gotten what he's always wanted," she said with tears in her eyes. "But I just thought that one day; he'd finally notice me, maybe if I wasn't so cowardly. I mean, he had it worse than I did growing up, it shouldn't have been so difficult to talk to him."

Seeing her tears, Neji showed what he'd learn from Naruto over the years and gave her his shoulder to cry on.

"I can't say that I know what you're going through," he said. "All I can say is that you should keep on moving in life, who knows, you maybe able to find your own happiness one day."

"Thank you, Neji," she said wiping her tears away.

Hinata took Neji's advice and began to date Kiba while the pain of losing Naruto before she even had him still resided within her. Soon, Naruto fell so deeply in love with Sakura that he didn't even notice the change in her demeanor towards him the instant Sasuke returned.

"Sasuke?" she asked as he walked into the hokage's office escorted by some ANBU.

"When'd you get back?" Naruto asked.

"I've avenged my clan," he said. "I'm ready for any pu…"  
Before he could finish, Sakura ran up and hugged him as tight as she could without killing him with her strength. Happy that he was now with the girl of his dreams and his best friend had returned, Naruto was the only one that didn't think much of the way she hugged him.

"Does she really think it's appropriate to hug him like that?" Shizune whispered in Tsunade's ear.

"It's nothing, she's just happy to see him," Tsunade assured. "Look, Naruto's not even concerned about it."

Even though she tried to assuage Shizune's concerns, Tsunade couldn't help but take notice of the scene in front of her.

"At least, I hope it's nothing," she thought.

Getting down to business, Tsunade sentenced Sasuke to six months in the Leaf Village prison, a lenient sentence since he returned of his own accord and the only thing he did was defeat two of the villages enemies. Sakura visited him daily and everyone around could see that she was turning her attentions more and more to Sasuke, everyone except Naruto who was too far gone. He had started to voice his intentions to his closest friends outside of Sasuke, Shikamaru and Lee, while coming back from a mission.

"You're going to ask her to marry you?" Lee asked without his usual youthful exuberance knowing the situation. "Are you sure that's wise?"

"Yeah, why not?" Naruto asked.

"It's just…" Shikamaru stopped as he and Lee actually saw that Naruto really couldn't see.

They just left it alone not having the heart to tell him, later that day, Hinata was walking through the Leaf Village when she happened upon Naruto proposing to Sakura.

"Oh, no," she thought to herself.

Despite dating Kiba, she still held out hope that one day, if fortune was really on her side, she could be with Naruto. What happened next stunned her almost as much as it did Naruto.

"Get real," Sakura said. "Marry you? You're joking, right?"

"No," Naruto said. "These past few years with you have been the happiest of my life."

"Don't you know anything?" Sakura asked.

"I know that I don't have to worry about a group of international terrorists trying to kidnap me anymore, I hope," he said. "All I have to worry about is the rest of my life and the person I want to spend it with and that person is you, Sakura."

"Naruto, you must be joking, how could you even seriously think I'd marry you?"

"I don't understand," Naruto said.

"Naruto, you can be so dense sometimes it's annoying," she said coldly. "I'll say it so you can, Sasuke's the one and only man for me and you aren't. He's the only one who makes my heart beat like a hummingbird and you aren't. He's the only one who makes me feel like I'm on top of the world and you aren't. In short, Naruto, you and I will never happen, do you understand now?"

Naruto stood there frozen as she realized what time it was.

"See, look, you've made me late for visitation."

He still stood there frozen as she left without so much as a good-bye, Hinata went over to speak to him to see if he was okay.

"A, a, are you okay, Naruto?"

It was no use, he was too despondent, he ignored her completely and walked back to his apartment. Though his face was frozen, she could see the pain and anguish in his eyes, he made it back to his apartment and as soon as he closed the doors, he dropped to his knees holding his chest as if he was trying to keep the broken pieces of his heart in place. He felt the same hopelessness and despair he used to in his younger days and tears began to run down his face, he didn't come out of his apartment for the next week even ignoring assignments from the hokage until she was forced to visit herself.

"I know you're in there, Naruto," she said. "Open up."

She soon grew worried and ripped the door off of it's hinges to find him laying on his back in his bed with the lights off. She looked around and it looked as if that's all he did as she could see no sign of activity in his house, if it hadn't been for the fact that he was laying right there in front of her, she would've thought that no one had been there for a while.

"I heard what happened, Naruto," she said. "I know what it's like to lose the one you love in such a harsh manner, of course my loved ones were taken and didn't leave me so maybe I don't know exactly what you're going through."

"It feels as if there's nothing inside me or around me," he said speaking up. "Like I'm just skin separating nothing from nothing."

"That sounds about right," she said remembering how she used to feel. "But you know what brought me around?"

"What?" he asked sitting up.

"Don't you remember?" she asked. "You were there."

"Right now, I'm having a hard time remembering how I got back home."

"It was you," she said with a smile. "You helped me get over my fears and anxieties against Orochimaru. Now, since I've been hokage, I've watched you lift everyone around you's spirits as if you made it your life's work to never let anyone feel bad, are you going to lie there and take it now that it's your turn? What happened to the Naruto Uzumaki who challenged me and got tangled up in a battle between the Sannin without blinking? The very same person who was going to be hokage one day, I was thinking of maybe naming you my successor in a few years but if you can't get over a broken heart then I don't know."

As usual, mentioning him becoming hokage snapped him out of it, even if just a little.

"Fine," he said turning to sit on the edge of the bed. "You got any missions or anything?"

"Well, at least you're moving around," she said. "You can choose th…"

"The longer it will take the better," he said.

"I'll do something about the door and don't worry about Sakura," she said. "I've had her on bedpan detail at the hospital."

He went on the mission the next day and didn't come back for three weeks, without thinking twice about it, he went on another not wanting to stay around longer than he had to. Tsunade wanted to stop him from exhausting himself but they figured that he could at least have the job he loved if he couldn't have the woman he loved. Whenever he was home, he just spent his time sitting on the swing he sat on in front of the academy when he heard he failed the exams not bothering to go to his apartment at all. Some of his friends would come by to talk to him but they always found the conversations a little one-sided, Sakura even tried to talk to him when she passed by once but couldn't bring herself to face him after realizing what she did. One day, he was called to the hokage's office for a mission.

"I believe you know the Princess of the Land of Snow," Tsunade asked. "Don't you?"

"Yeah," he answered.

"Well, she remembered you from a mission a few years ago and requested you for a mission."

"Why me?"

"She remembered how big of a fan you were of her work and how much you helped her and wanted to pay you back by making you her personal bodyguard during shooting of the new Princess Fuun, she said that there's even a small part in the movie for you."

"Hm," he said. "I've never acted before but okay."

A few days later, Sasuke was released, Sakura wanted to be the first one he met but she was still being put through her paces by Lady Tsunade at the hospital. He was walking around when he passed Shikamaru, Lee, Kiba, Choji, Sai, and Neji who were a little put off by him and what happened to Naruto.

"He'd just better not say anything to piss me off," Lee said surprising everyone.

As Sasuke passed, he could feel the anger coming from them and decided to ask them about it.

"What are you looking at?"

"That's it!" Lee shouted. "You son of a bitch!"

He tried to attack Sasuke but he being held back by Choji and Neji.

"What's his problem?" Sasuke asked.

"Don't say nothin' to us," Kiba said.

"How are you gonna act so clueless?" Shikamaru asked. "I ought to punch you in the fucking neck for what you did to Naruto. First, you almost kill him when you left then you came back and stole his girl."

"Stole his girl?" Sasuke asked confused. "I didn't steal his girl?"

"He means Sakura," Sai said. "They were dating before you arrived.

"They were? I didn't know that."

"Don't lie," Neji said. "You're just making Lee angrier."

"Fuckin' let me at him," Lee said trying to force his way through but Choji had him in his Partially Expanded grip. "I'll open up the Gate of Ass Whuppin' on him."

"You'd better get out of here," Choji said. "He's starting to break free."

"I've been gone for a few years and I've been in prison since I've been back," Sasuke explained. "I don't know anything."

"So, Sakura never mentioned anything about her and Naruto?" Shikamaru asked.

"She hardly ever spoke about him, only when I'd mention him or if he was relevant to the conversation."

They explained the situation to him and he was quite surprised to hear what he was involved in.

"Wow," he said in disbelief. "I had no idea."

"Yeah," Kiba said. "You see why Lee was so pissed at you now?"

"Where's Naruto now?"

"On a mission," Shikamaru said.

"I've gotta let him know I had nothing to do with any of this," Sasuke said. "In the mean time, Sakura's going to get an earful."

Naruto arrived in the Land of Snow and met Koyuki Kazahana at her palace.

"Naruto," she said approaching him.

She went to hug him but he backed away and shook her hand throwing her off a little.

"How have you been?" she asked.

"Alright," he said. "I thought there weren't going to be any more Princess Fuun movies, didn't you die in the last one?"

"You didn't stay for the end of the credits, did you?"

"No."

"Well, I'm alive."

"So, who am I protecting you from?" he asked getting down to business.

"No one in particular, just make sure nothing goes wrong. Did the Hokage mention your involvement in the picture? Because it's really the main reason I asked you here."

"Yeah," Naruto answered. "What is it?"

"Just a fight scene and some stunt work, if that's okay with you."

"Sounds good."

"Good," she said. "Because your scene is up first."

Naruto's role was in a massive battle in which Princess Fuun and her allies had to fight about a thousand soldiers. Naruto was reading the script with her to get his lines down and he found out why he was so important to this scene, his ability to create over a thousand clones and his transformation jutsu.

"The director's been under a lot of pressure from the studio to keep the budget down so I thought about you when this scene came up," she explained. "Instead of spending all of that money to find and pay extras, I suggested that we just pay you as a mission and you could use your clones."

"Well, that makes sense," he said. "So, let's go over my lines again."

"Okay," she said getting into character. "We won't let you pass, we'll protect this country with our lives if we have to."

"It's not a matter of if you'll give your lives, Princess Fuun," Naruto said reading his lines. "But how much pain you will endure when you give it. How was it?"

"Needs more feeling," she coached. "Like those speeches you gave when you protected me from my uncle."

He continued to try and she continued to coach him until he got it.

"Good, Naruto," she said putting her hand on his shoulder causing him to flinch a little.

She took notice but didn't say anything.

"This can't be the same Naruto from before," she thought.

Koyuki continued to observe him as the week went on and noticed his adverse reactions whenever a woman got too close to him, curiosity got the best of her the last night before he left and she had to know what was going on in his head. She went to his hotel room that was right next to hers and asked him is he'd join her for some tea, that's when she decided to ask him.

"Naruto?"

"Yes?" he answered.

"Why do you act so distant towards women?"

"What do you mean?" he asked actually not noticing his new habit.

"Whenever a woman gets close to you, you back away like they have a disease."

"I do?"

"Yes, what are you married or something?"

Upon hearing the word "married," he clinched his cup so hard that he broke it in his hand scalding himself.

"Naruto, your hand," she said.

She tried to help him but the fox was already taking care of his wound, that's when he began muttering something.

"What was that, Naruto?"

"Married," he muttered staring at the floor. "You have to propose to someone to be married and to propose to someone, you have to be good enough for them."

She could see the pain in his face and her curiosity grew.

"Did something happen to you, Naruto?" she asked.

Maybe it was the fact that she was from another land and he didn't have to see her a whole lot, but for the first time since it happened, he spoke to someone about it in detail. Upon hearing his story, her heart broke for him.

"I can't believe Sakura would do something like that," she said.

She saw from his story that his self-esteem was shot and was thinking of a way she could help, that's when it hit her and she started to move towards him without another word.

"What are you doing, princess?" he asked backing away.

She just ignored him and continued her approach, he continued to retreat until he was cornered and found himself face to face with her.

"You are good enough," she said giving him a kiss.

He was tense at first but the kiss's desired affects soon took hold and he began returning it, she took him by the hand and brought him towards her bed. She continued to kiss him as she undressed him.

"Oh, god, Naruto," she said reaching down his pants and feeling his manhood.

After he has completely nude, she pushed him on to the bed as she slid off her kimono.

"You know, I'm a," he tried to say nervously. "I mean, I don't have a whole lot of ex…"

"Hush, Naruto," she said. "This isn't for me, it's for you. I want you to feel what it's like to be loved even it's only for one night."

She climbed into the bed with him and hovered above his member as she placed him at her entrance, she slid down and let out a sigh of pleasure as she felt him inside her.

"I love you," she said to him looking into his eyes.

She began to make the kind of love to him that was reserved only for the person you cherished the most.

"I love you," she said again before coming in for a kiss.

Despite planning on this being for him, he quickly turned into a pleasurable experience for both of them as she began to enjoy it as much as he did.

"I love you," she said again as they both climaxed together.

As he lied there, she did nothing but give him soft kisses all over his face and neck.

"Let me know when you're ready again," she said between kisses. "I love you."

He was still perplexed by how she pretended to be someone who loved him just to make him happy but it was a good learning experience for what was in store for him in his future. After a night of lovemaking with the Land of Snow's princess and his favorite actress, he was all set to leave when she approached him one last time with one last loving kiss on the lips.

"Remember, you are good enough," she said.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said with a smile. "And I'll make sure not to let anyone know about last night, wouldn't want the Paparazzi around the village, good-bye."

He came back to the Leaf Village a new man and everyone noticed a new pep in his step.

"Hey, Shikamaru," he said slapping him five. "Let me know when you're playing Shogi again."

"You got it."

"What's up, my dog?" he said slapping Kiba five. "You still killin' 'em?"

"Oh, yeah!"

"You losin' weight?" he asked Choji.

"Yeah, a little bit."

"Hey, Lee," Naruto said. "You're good lookin' man."

"Thank you, Naruto, that is what I have been trying to tell everyone."

He took his new attitude to the hokage's office to give her his mission report.

"Good to see you're feeling better," Tsuande said. "What happened?"

"Uh, just a successful mission," he said. "That's all."

"Well, good, maybe now you'll move into your new house."

"My new house?" he asked.

"Yeah, I was going to have someone fix your door but then I decided that you were getting a little too old and big for that small apartment so I had Yamato create you a new house but you didn't give me a chance to tell you."

"Sorry," he said grinning.

"Here are your keys, your stuff's already there."

Naruto and Sakura were still in his apartment as he continued to get things off of his chest.

"Well, I see why you and Sasuke are so good together," he said. "You have a lot in common, you both put holes in my chest."

When she heard him mention her and Sasuke's relationship, she broke down and cried.

"Hey, I'm the one who got hurt and she's crying?" he thought.

He tried to keep his cool but the Naruto side of him wouldn't let him and he had to console her.

"Hey, come on, now," he said. "Don't do that."

Meanwhile, Hinata was meeting with Kiba and she had a lot to tell him.


	4. Talk

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AND/OR THE CHARACTERS**

**Talk**

Kiba and Hinata met on the roof top of one of the buildings in the village where they could be alone, she had been a wreck over the mess she caused between her boyfriend and Naruto and decided that she had to come clean while Kiba was still angry at Naruto.

"I can't believe he'd do that to me," Kiba thought. "Especially with how we took out for him when Sasuke came back. Oh, well, what did you want to talk to me about, Hinata?"

"W, well," Hinata said. "I, it's about N, Naruto."

"Don't worry about him," Kiba said. "I'll set his ass straight, I can't believe he'd try to come on to you like that."

"Wait, what did you say?" she asked surprised.

"I caught his scent on you one day and when I confronted him about it, he said that he made on move on you and you rejected him."

"He said that?" she asked even more surprised.

"Yeah," Kiba answered. "That's why we've been going at it."

"I can't believe he'd do something like that for me," she said confusing Kiba.

"What do you mean?"

"There's something I have to tell you, Kiba."

"Yeah, shoot."

"Well, Naruto didn't approach me."

"He didn't?" Kiba asked.

"Well, I visited his home to speak with him and I told him about how much I liked him then one thing lead to another and I kissed him," she admitted. "He didn't want to but he let me do it anyway because he wanted to make me happy and didn't want to hurt my feelings."

To her surprise, Kiba just started chuckling then his chuckling turned into laughter.

"Why are you laughing?" she asked as she was now the confused party in the conversation.

"Because it's about time," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you ever once wondered why I never once tried to have sex with you?" he asked.

"I thought you were trying to be respectful to me?"

"How long have you known me?" he asked.

"Almost 9 years."

"Has anything about me ever said 'respectful?' Respectful would be making an attempt and stopping when you said no, I flat out never tried because I knew you weren't over Naruto. I've actually been waiting for this day since you asked me out. I would've tried to push you towards him but I figured it'd be best for you to do it in your own time."

"Then why were you so angry at Naruto?" she asked.

"Well, first I was just trying to play the good boyfriend since I knew he'd realize sooner or later that I'd have caught his scent on you or yours on him but then he insulted me and I had to take him behind the wood shed, no one's too hot for Kiba."

"He said I'm too hot for you," she said blushing.

"Yeah, you don't think so, do you?" he asked.

"Well, I did choose you to date, didn't I?"

"Yeah, well, you've got some ground to make up, I'll let you get to it."

"Thank you," she said as she gave him a kiss on the cheek before leaving.

"No, problem and tell him he knows where to find me if he wants to get his ass kicked again."

"Okay," she said with a smile.

While she was leaving for Naruto's house, he was busy playing the Naruto role as he sat Sakura down to talk to her about her crying.

"Why so blue, panda bear?" he asked handing her a tissue.

"I don't know," she said. "It's just me and Sasuke are, I don't know."

"Look, why don't you just start from the beginning?"

"Well…"

She told him about how she was feeling, she felt like she was on top of the world as she was with the man she loved and Naruto had came back from his mission to the Land of Snow a changed man. Since he seemed to be better, she also felt a little better about the situation and everyone stopped treating her like the devil so she was now free to enjoy their relationship. Through her battles with the Akatsuki and Orochimaru, she managed to become a world renowned medic second to Tsunade herself in fame but in reality, she was still third behind Shizune in overall skill and, for some reason, Ino was now breathing down her neck as far as being a medic went lately. She was with Sasuke and was the envy of all the women in the village around her age because she got her claws into the class hunk from their academy days and, depending on who you ask as the people were reasonable and would give Naruto his due, the top shinobi of the village that's not the hokage and not to mention he was well of being the sole recipient of the Uchiha estate which allowed him to shower her with gifts and show her the good life but in reality, they rarely spent anytime together because of his ANBU duties. The majority of the time she got alone she spent just that, alone, most nights she came home from the hospital to an empty house and went to sleep in an empty bed after eating dinner for one as she knew he wouldn't be home until the morning if that. And then there was the situation with Naruto, although she tried hard to put it out of her mind, that complicated a lot of things in her life. She had missed the way he doted on her and would do his best to make her happy, even if he didn't succeed, it was due to him trying too hard as opposed to Sasuke who always seemed to have to try harder. But she was with Sasuke and that ship had sailed of her own doing, what was really hitting her over the head was that she wounded her friend. All that Naruto wanted was to love her and for her to love him in return but she squashed that dream like an insect, whenever he did things like avoid her, come up with excuses as to why he had to cut their conversation short, or flash his usual grin whenever he saw her and Sasuke together to show that he was okay with it, it was like she was trapped in the Tsukiyomi and someone was torturing her for days on end. When Naruto mentioned her and Sasuke after laying into her, it brought all of those feelings out of her.

"I see," Naruto said after hearing everything she said. "Is that all?"

"What do you mean," she asked drying her eyes.

"Look, as far as you and I go, I'm okay.

"You are?" she asked.

"Yeah, as you can see, I'm doing okay with the ladies, and I just got everything off of my chest. To be honest, I forgave you almost as soon as it happened."

"You did?" she asked surprised.

"Yeah, I'm not one for holding grudges but it just took a long time to forget it, which is why I said fuck you. I was pissed that you brought it back up."

"Oh, sorry."

"No problem," he said. "Now, as far as the medic thing is concerned, you're never going to be as good as Lady Tsunade and Shizune unless you buckle down. The whole reason Ino's been putting the pressure on you is because she got off of her ass and started hustling for it."

"You think so?"

"I'm positive, shoot for the moon, if you miss you're still amongst the stars."

"What does that mean?" she asked confused.

"That means do the best you can, even if you don't become as good as they are, you'll be on the same level as the great medics who tried to be that good."

"You're right," she said.

"As far as Sasuke goes," he said as he could see that she was all ears. "What are we doing right now?"

"Talking?"

"And what should you be doing with Sasuke?" he quizzed her.

"Talking?"

"Wow, you are smart, I just lost a mon…to myself."

They laughed at his joke and she got up to leave with a new outlook on life.

"Thank you, Naruto," she said giving him a hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Easy," he said. "I'm already at odds with Kiba, I don't want to have to fight Sasuke again."

"Oh," she said stopping. "That reminds me, if I'm being too intrusive tell me but where did you get all of that money to by Tenten those gifts?"

"Oh, I'm an actor."

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah, I was in Princess Fuun and The Thunderhorse, I was the entire army they fought at the Sacred Valley."

"So, that's where all this money came from?" she asked suspiciously. "I haven't seen it, so maybe."

"It's called royalties, babe," he said in a douchy manner as he chewed a piece of gum. "I'm also in talks to star in the live action version of Bleach as Ichigo given my naturally spiky hair."

"Congratulations," she said.

"I'm just joking," he admitted with a laugh. "I was in Princess Fuun and The Thunderhorse but I was just a glorified extra, although a couple of other movies hired me for the same mission but they just paid me as a regular mission even though I did get paid a little something from the films' grosses, I've actually been in 3 of the 5 top grossing movies of the last two years but, as I said, I was a glorified extra. The first reason I have so much money is because I never spend any of it, everything in this house was either given as a gift, I found on a mission, or I made or grew it myself."

"Oh, that makes sense," she said.

"The second is that they always send Pervy Sage and me to get Grandma whenever she sneaks of to Tanzaku Town where she always goads me into gambling and I end up shutting the place down winning her money back and then some. Then there's the third but you know what that is."

"No, I don't."

"You're kidding me, right?" he asked seriously. "You don't know who my father is?"

"No, should I?"

"You've seen his face everyday."

"I do?"

"I'll give you a hint, he's the Fourth Hokage, dummy."

"He is?" she asked. "Well, there is the hair and the eyes."

"Yeah, well, in addition to the money he had earned from being hokage for the short amount of time he had at the position, they left me the money he'd earned from his mission. Apparently, hair and eyes aren't the only trait we share, he didn't spend his money either."

"Oh," she said. "Well, mystery solved."

She left and on the way out, she bumped into Hinata who was just about to knock on the door, Sakura just looked at her and shook her head.

"She's going to get one of them killed," she thought as she passed her. "Hello, Hinata."

"Hello, Sakura," Hinata said. "Hello, Naruto, may I come in?"

"Are you sure that such a good idea?" he asked. "Because the next time Kiba puts his hands on me, I'm going to fight him seriously."

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about," she said blushing but not stuttering.

"Okay, then, come in."

She came in and explained the situation to him and he was quite surprised.

"So, there was both a reason and no reason for Kiba and me to fight?" Naruto asked. "That's just bad communication is what that is."

"S, so, t, then, N, Naruto," she said stuttering and her anxiety came back and her blushed intensified. "W, would…"

"Would I like to go out on a date? Is that what you were trying to ask me?"

"Yes," she said.

"Yeah, I'd like that," he said. "I have to report to the hokage for a mission tomorrow morning so we could do it after I get back unless you have time right now?"

"Yes, I do."

"Well, let's go," he said getting up.

As they left, Moegi was in her house thinking about Naruto and what to do on her birthday.

"I could just show up like last time," she thought, "I mean, I will be 18, so there shouldn't be any real reason for him to say no but that wasn't why he said no the last time. He said no because I just asked him because I was upset with Konohamaru. Maybe I should ask him for a date as a birthday gift then try my hand there."

All of this thinking about Naruto made Moegi heat up and she could feel that it was time for her to get to know herself again, she got up to lock her room door and got back in her bed. Naruto and Hinata's date was going well, since it was impromptu, the things they did were spontaneous as they went to a club in the afternoon which allowed them to spend time alone together and just listen to music. Then they went to her favorite sweet roll stand where she laughed as he had trouble with the sticky frosting that got on his fingers.

"That's funny, huh?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. "That's why they give it to you in a napkin."

"Well, I know how to shut you up."

"How?" she asked.

She got her answer as he kissed her on the lips which did the trick as she was frozen in place.

"So, smartass," he said. "Got anything els…"

"Shh," she shushed him. "Don't ruin it."

He gave her his arm so she could follow as they continued their date, they just walked through the village but that became a problem as they started to receive dirty looks from the people that didn't know that Kiba had taken himself out of the picture.

"Maybe we should take this somewhere else," he suggested.

"Okay."

They headed for the Leaf Village Forest and along the way, they came to the stream that ran through the village where they saw a peculiar sight.

"Where the hell did that gondola come from?" he asked.

"I don't know," she answered.

As it got closer, he recognized who its pilot was.

"Pervy Sage?" he asked.

"Would you be quiet," he said anxiously.

"Sorry, what are you doing?"

"I'm escaping from Tsunade," he said. "She caught me peeping again and she has murder in her eyes."

"So, why don't you just leave the village through the gates?"

"That's just what she expects me to do," he said with a sly look on his face. "That's why I sent a Shadow Clone that way while I escape down this stream and through the forest."

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Lord Jiraiya," Hinata said. "But wouldn't that take too long?"

"You she how she called me Lord Jiraiya?" he asked Naruto. "Now she has respect, I think she's a keeper. Anyway, I didn't want to raise suspicion by trying to dash out of here, this way, I can just cruise on out."

"Well, we're going that way," Naruto said. "Can we hitch a ride?"

"Sure," Jiraiya said. "It'll be romantic for you and your pretty little friend there."

Hinata just blushed at the compliment.

"And great research," Jiraiya thought.

He just watched as his protégé and his date made time together, both of his plans worked as he got great research done for his books and he got out of the village in one piece or so he thought. They got to the forest where they found Tsunade waiting on him cracking her knuckles.

"Oh, damn it," he said under his breath.

"I hope you don't need to walk anywhere for a while," she said.

He got out of the boat and tried to sweet talk his way out of it.

"Oh, come on, Tsunade," he said. "You know how I feel about you and you still shoot me down, that's why I did it. I love you."

She only glared at him.

"Come on, baby, don't be like that," he said as he approached her with open arms only to have his privates caught in her death grip. "I can't get out of this, huh?"

"No," she said.

"And I can't be in anymore trouble?"

"No."

"Well, in that case," he said as he started groping her.

"That's it, get what you need now," she said.

"You're going to hurt him," Naruto asked. "Aren't you?"

"You'll hear about it later," she said as she dragged him back to the village.

"It was nice having a mentor," Naruto shouted to Jiraiya.

"Poor Lord Jiraiya," Hinata said. "I feel sorry for him."

"Don't," Naruto said. "They're role playing."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, that's how the get themselves ready, didn't you notice how he was smiling when she grabbed him?"

They let the boat travel down the river until they got to the lake in the middle of the forest where she showed him a trick and stuck her bare feet in the water.

"Try it," she said smiling.

He tried it and started laughing as he felt a slight tickle.

"Hey, what is that?"

"It's the tiny fish," she explained. "They eat the dead skin and other things off of your feet, I do this after particularly tough missions instead of using those lotions and other things because it's more natural this way."

"Cool," he said.

They got out of the boat and spent the rest of their date under a tree just enjoying being in each other's company until it was dark and he walked her home because he had to get to some rest for his mission the next day.

"I like this," he said. "We're definitely going to have do this when I get back."

"Yes," she said. "I'd like that."

They shared a good night kiss and she went in for the night.


	5. Temari Takes Aim

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AND/OR THE CHARACTERS**

**Temari Takes Aim**

Hinata went into the house after her date with Naruto giggling like she'd never had before, as she went to her room, she passed her sister's who heard her. Hanabi decided to investigate as she'd never heard her sister in such a state.

"So, did you and Kiba finally do it?" she asked. "I want to hear all about it."

"No," Hinata answered. "Something much better happened and I heard you were closer to that than I am anyway."

"Who told you?" Hanabi asked with surprise in her eyes.

"You just did."

"Damn it," Hanabi said. "Well, why are you so happy?"

"I just went out on a date with Naruto," Hinata answered triumphantly.

Hanabi's heart dropped as she heard the news, she had always figured that since her sister was so spineless, she'd be the one to bring Naruto into the Hyuuga fold.

"That's great," she lied. "Run it from the top."

Hinata explained the situation with Kiba and how she worked up enough courage to ask Naruto out, the more Hanabi heard, the deeper into despair she sunk.

"Now what am I going to do?" she thought.

Naruto woke up the next day bright and early, if there was one thing he was happy about since his lady friends made their intentions known, it was that they stopped showing up under the cover of night which allowed him to get a good night's rest. He got up and started to fix himself some breakfast when a knock came at his door, he opened it to find Kin waiting on him.

"Oh, hey, Kin," he said welcoming her in.

"Morning," she said giving him a hug and a kiss.

"I was just making some breakfast, want some?"

"Uh, yeah, I could eat."

She followed him into the kitchen where she moved him out of the way and began cooking the food alone.

"When'd you learn how to cook?" he asked.

"I just learned," she said. "Let me know how it is?"

After she finished, she sat down and didn't try to eat as she waited to his reaction.

"Damn" he said taking his first bite. "This is really good."

"Thank you," she said with a big grin as she began eating.

After he ate the breakfast, she did the dishes, to his surprise, she began cleaning up the whole house to the point that he had to stop her.

"Hey, what's with all the domestication?"

She didn't want to tell him as she wanted him to notice on his own but looking into his eyes always made her brain stop and she just told him the truth.

"I wanted to show you that I could be good around the house."

"Why?" he asked.

"Well, I asked Anko for advice and she said that I needed to do something to make myself stand out," Kin admitted.

"So, why'd you choose to learn housework?"

"Well, because I've never seen any of them do it. The closest is Hinata when she cooked for us on a mission once, but she and Ino are members of high ranking clans which means they probably have servants and Tenten probably doesn't have time since she has to train with those weapons all the time."

Naruto gave her words some thought as he wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm surprised," he said.

"Why?"

"When the hell did Anko start giving out good advice?"

They both laughed as they knew that Anko's advice often ranged from bad to not very good.

"Look," he said. "You don't have to worry about standing out, I gave you a nickname didn't I?"

"Yeah," she said.

"Besides, you're Kin Tsuchi, you can't help but stand out, not only are you one of the hottest pieces in the village, you're smart, talented, and caring. What's not to like?"

"Thank you," she said laying her head on his shoulder. "You always know what to say."

"Well, I say I have to go," he said giving her a kiss on the neck.

As he moved to leave, he felt a tug on his arm, he looked back and saw an amorous look on her face.

"No," he said knowing what was on her mind. "I have to meet Grandma."

"Naruto," she said coming in and kissing him. "Make her wait."

"I can't, I have a mission."

"Naruto, this is going to happen."

"Oh, alright," he said knowing he wasn't going to make it out of there without giving her what she needed. "How about I leave a clone for you?"

"Okay," she said.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

He created a clone and left it with her as he left to meet with Lady Tsunade. They kissed as he carried her up the stairs to his room, he laid her down on the bed and took his clothes off while she took off hers.

"Come here," she said.

Their lips met once again as they fondled each other's sex.

"I can't wait anymore," she said.

He followed her command and slid inside of her.

"Yes," she moaned.

He started to make lover to her as she wrapped her legs around his waist and their tongues danced in each other's mouths. He ran his fingers through her hair as every thrust made her moan louder until they came together, they lied in bed holding each other but that didn't last long as she was soon ready for another round. When they were done, the clone was ready to disperse and go back to Naruto not knowing if he was already on the mission or not.

"I'm sorry for asking you this but I don't know where the real me is."

"What?" she asked.

"Do you mind finishing cleaning up downstairs and locking up when finished?"

"No, but I'm surprised."

"At what?" he asked.

"You trust me with your place like that?"

"Hey, I've let you touch my penis," he said. "If that isn't trust, I don't know what is."

They shared a laugh and a kiss before he dispersed back to Naruto who was in Tsunade's office getting his mission report.

"Why's it a solo mission," he asked.

"Because, you'll be rendezvousing in the Sand Village with your teammate," Tsunade said. "From there you'll both receive your orders from Gaara, understood?"

"Gotcha," she said on the way out.

Whether or not Kin knew it, their early morning encounter made her stand out even more as he thought about her while he left.

"She wanted to stand out from the others by showing me that she'd good around the house?" he thought. "That means she wants to be in my house enough to be doing housework, only housewives…"

That's when how much Naruto meant to his lady friends hit him.

"Kin's actually trained herself to be a housewife for me," he thought. "Wow."

As Naruto was leaving, he bumped into Ino.

"Hey, you," she said with a smile on her face.

"Ino," he said. "How's your fine ass doing?"

"Oh, Naruto," she said blushing at his compliment. "Where are you off to?"

"Mission."

"Where to?"

"The Sand Village," he said.

"By yourself?" she asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, I know," he said. "Grandma said that I'd meet my teammate there and Gaara would give us our orders."

"That bitch!" Ino thought behind a smile.

Ino's anger came from the last time she and Temari spoke, Ino walked into Lady Tsunade's office to find Naruto giving his mission report. Temari was in the office as well having some business to handle for her village.

"Okay, Dismissed," Tsunade said.

"Hey, Ino," Naruto said giving her a hug.

Ino saw Temari glaring at the two of them and decided to turn it up by making sure their pelvises touched as she gave him a kiss on the cheek, the display even took Tsunade by surprise.

"Damn," she thought. "That's not very appropriate but I think it did the trick."

Tsunade figured out what Ino was doing as she could see her glaring back at Temari who started smiling pretending not to be jealous.

"You sure you want to hug me like that?" Naruto asked not really knowing what was going on. "I'm still a bit funky from the mission."

"Sorry," Ino said. "See you later?"

"Sure," he said. "Bye, everyone."

"Bye, Naruto," Temari said suggestively. "And I really enjoyed the last time you _came_ to the Sand Village, spending all that time together felt…"

Temari smirked at Ino who was now permeating rage.

"…so good."

"Oh, we gettin' real now," Tsunade thought.

"Yeah, I had fun too," Naruto said before leaving.

Although a bit more experienced in the ways of women from the past year, he still didn't think anything of Temari's words as he still thought she looked at him as a little brother and he really didn't understand when women were taking subtle shots at each other. Back in the office, Ino's purpose was overshadowed by the current conversation Temari lead.

"That is one fine piece of shinobi you got there, Lady Tsunade," she said as she watched him leaving from the window.

"Yeah," Ino said. "And I'm glad he's all mine."

"Yours?" Temari asked.

"Well, he is a Leaf Shinobi and thus a comrade of _mine_."

"I see," Temari said. "That's probably why he enjoys being in the Sand Village so much. No offense, Lady Tsunade."

"None taken."

"Hey, why are you always here," Ino asked in annoyance. "Don't they have someone else that can make deliveries and shit?"

"You know I'm able to handle a package," Temari said with a smile. "Well, Naruto does at least."

"Well, it's delivered," Ino said. "Now, why don't you make like the wind and blow?"

"Again" Temari countered. "Ask Naruto and he'll tell you how I blow."

"It's probably the only thing he'd enjoy," Ino came back. "I heard that the desert isn't the only place to find sand in your village."

Temari was stuck as she underestimated Ino's ability to be catty and had no comeback.

"This is fun, isn't it?" Tsunade asked.

"Why the hell did I even come here?" Ino asked as her dust up with Temari caused her to lose her train of thought.

"Yeah, why did you come here," Tsunade asked as she too forgot. "Oh, yeah. I wanted to know how you were coming along with studying the medicinal properties of that plant."

"Oh, it's suitable for easing pain and relieving tension, the users also develop slight feelings of euphoria."

"What are its side effects?" Tsunade asked.

"The tests show that the users become either extremely focused or unfocused in different cases and it induces impossible hunger all cases."

"So, what usage do you recommend?" Tsunade asked.

"In combat, it could be used as a pain killer for minor injuries until medical attention can be attained, it can also alleviate fear and anxiety, the problem comes from the focus issue as said before. In regular medicine, this plant can help with glaucoma, carpal tunnel syndrome, and with cancer patients who suffer from loss of appetite."

"Okay," Tsunade said. "Keep up the good work."

"Yes, ma'am," Ino said.

Temari wasn't about to take losing sitting down as Ino left.

"You know, Lady Tsunade, I think I should apologize to Naruto," Temari said.

"Why?" Tsunade asked unwittingly playing straight man for Temari.

"He thinks I'm sort of task master as a mission leader, he kept telling me that I rode him too hard. Maybe the next time we work together, I'll let him take the lead and he can ride me as hard as he can."

"Bitch," Ino thought.

Despite her words, Temari had never done anything with Naruto but she knew that the other girls in the Leaf Village didn't know that. Naruto was concerned as Ino was just staring off into space.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said. "Hey, Naruto, you don't have to go right now, do you?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"That's too bad, I'd love to give you something to remember me by."

"Yeah, sorry about that," he said rubbing the back of his head.

"I have an idea," she said. "Why don't you leave a clone?"

"Yeah, okay."

Naruto created a clone and was on his way, after a few days of travel, he reached the Village Hidden in the Sand.

"Man, these cliffs always creep me out," she said as he entered the village.

He reached the guards and they showed him to Gaara's office.

"What's goin' on, Gaara? What's up, Kankuro?"

"Hello, Naruto," they said not really looking at him.

"What's with you two?" Naruto asked confused.

"I can't believe she's making me do this," Gaara thought. "Nothing, Naruto, let's just get down to your mission."

"Okay," Naruto said. "What is it? Who's my partner?"

"I am," Temari said walking in.

"Hey, Temari," Naruto said.

"Hey, yourself."

"The owner of the Happy Dragon Hotel needs some bodyguards," Gaara said.

"So, why'd you call me?"

"The hotel is very large and requires a good number of shinobi for the security, we're still recovering from the war with the Akatsuki and Orochimaru and don't have the shinobi to spare so we subcontracted to you because of your ability to create a large number of shadow clones without tiring."

"When do we leave?" Naruto asked.

"Right now," Temari said.

As Temari pulled him by the arm, she had one thought in her head.

"I'm going to do away with this "as a younger brother" crap real soon."

As they traveled, they went over the particulars of the mission.

"Take your forehead protector off," she said as she took hers off and sealed her fan.

"Why?"

"The owner already knows we're coming and he knows my face so we don't have to report to him," she explained.

"Why not?"

"Because we're going in as a normal couple, anything else might tip anyone who's looking off."

"Okay," Naruto said.

They got to the hotel and she checked them in to their room.

"You remember how the employee's here dressed, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he said. "Transform!"

He created ten clones and transformed them so that some of them looked like employees and others like guests and had them go on patrol after developing a signal so that they'd know who Naruto was really.

"So, what do you want to do first, honey?" she asked playfully.


	6. Her Own Woman

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AND/OR THE CHARACTERS**

**Her Own Woman**

Naruto and Temari were at the hotel, as far as he knew, Naruto was on a mission and was actually on the look out for potential enemies as he sat by the pool.

"There you are, sweetie."

Naruto was stunned as he saw Temari in her bikini.

"Hey," he said regaining his composure.

She flustered him even further as she gave him a hug.

"I hope you don't mind," she whispered into his ears softly. "But I made dinner reservations tonight."

"That's fine with me," he said as his training as a shinobi allowed him to act normally in a situation that made him feel very uncomfortable.

They spent the rest of the day together by the pool as Naruto tried desperately to keep his eyes off of the woman he'd seen as a surrogate sister, which made her smile a little as she knew he at least felt that she was attractive enough to have to struggle with himself. Day turned to night and they went back to their room to get ready for dinner, she showered first keeping the door cracked enough to entice him.

"I wonder if he's looking," she thought as she washed.

Naruto was wrestling with himself on whether or not he should peak, the pervert that Jiraiya taught him to be saw that this was a grand opportunity but the gentleman that Tsunade scared him into being saw that it would be improper to do such a thing. Temari felt that she'd given him ample opportunity to take in the sites and didn't want to prune for what she had in store for him so she got out of the shower.

"Sorry, I took so long," she said with a smile as she was wrapped in her towel. "You know us girls."

"No problem," he said.

Temari got a grand idea as she walked to the dresser and let the towel slip down from behind and he got a view of her lower back and some of her ass, she smiled as she could see his reaction in the mirror. Naruto took his shower and they went downstairs to dinner, she chuckled as she heard his order.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"Here we are in this fancy restaurant, you can order anything you want and you still order ramen."

"Yeah, well, you know," he said as he didn't know what to say.

"I guess that's what makes you you," she said.

Naruto began to converse with her as if they were a normal couple as to not arouse suspicion and she lost herself as he talked to her like he was someone that was special to him while Naruto was keeping an eye out.

"Why don't we take this upstairs?" she asked.

"I thought you'd never ask," he said keeping up the act.

They went up stairs to their room and Naruto instantly dropped the act as he sat on the bed.

"Well, that went well," he said not noticing what Temari was doing.

"I'm sure this will too," she said standing in front of him.

He looked up and saw her in what had to be some of the sexiest lingerie he'd seen this side of Kin, his first instinct was to back away. Unfortunately, he backed up further onto the bed which she took as a signal and joined him on the bed closing in on him.

"Hey, Temari," he said nervously.

"Hey, yourself," she said smiling.

"We can't do this."

"Why not?"

"You're like a sister to me," he protested.

"Well, that's going to change soon, besides, I have enough brothers."

"That's just it," he continued. "You're Gaara's sister, you know what he'd do to me if he found us like this?"

Temari stopped her advance and sat at the edge of the bed.

"That's better," he said.

Suddenly, she began crying which came as a surprise to him and immediately threw him into that familiar role of Naruto.

"Hey, now," he said. "Don't do that. If you really want to do this then…"

"It's not that," she said through the tears.

"Then what's wrong?"

"Is that how you think of me?" she asked. "As Gaara's sister."

"Well, aren't you?" he asked confused.

"But is that all I am?" she cried.

"I'm sorry but I'm not really following, could you explain?"

She told him about parts of her life that he didn't know about, she told him about how she was looked at as Gaara or Kankuro's sister. Gaara was the Kazekage that sacrificed his life to protect the Sand Village form Deidara and grew to be more powerful than even the third Kazekage himself which gave him a great bit of fame within the ninja world let alone the Village Hidden in the Sand while she, despite being very powerful, was just another jonin. Kankuro was a puppet master whose skill surpassed Sasori, his skill grew to the point that he was able to rebuild the puppet of the Third Hokage and even Sasori himself and controlled them with great ease. He eventually began teaching ninja puppetry and became famous in his own right while she was still just another jonin which didn't earn you as many points as you may think as there was always another shinobi waiting to take your place. At least, that's what she thought was the achievements of her brothers made her self-esteem drop lower until she thought of herself as Gaara and Kankuro's sister.

"Wow," Naruto said now sitting next to her. "I had no idea, you hide it well."

"Thank you," she said. "Spy work's my strong suit."

"Listen, you're more than just Gaara and Kankuro's sister. I think that you're focusing too much on that and you should focus more on being Temari, I mean, you're very powerful in your own right and you use your own strength."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, don't tell them I said this but think about it, Gaara's power, even the one's he retained after being revived comes from the Shukaku and Kankuro uses those puppets. You, on the other hand, use jutsu and things that you pull off personally, even I have to rely on the Nine Tailed Fox when things get hairy. You using your own strength is something you should be very proud of, it's the thing I admire the most about you."

His words touched her deeply as she began to see things his way and felt better about her station in life.

"You certainly have a way with words," she said. "I see why you were able to get through to Gaara, thank you but don't think I've forgotten."

"Forgot what?" he asked.

He got his answer as she planted a kiss on his lips that caused him to back away.

"Temari, I…"

"Didn't I tell you that we were going to knock that brother sister crap off?"

She he tried to fight as she kissed him again but it started to feel too good and he began to return the kiss until he caught himself.

"Wait," he said. "This is all kinda sudden."

"Naruto," she said wrapping her arms around him. "You don't know what you do to me when I'm with you. Those words you spoke to me just now are how you make me feel all of time, I never felt like I was just Gaara and Kankuro's sister with you. You always looked at me like I was my own woman, even if it won't happen really, even if it's just for one night."

She let go of him and looked him directly to let him see the desire in her eyes.

"I want you to make me feel like _your_ woman."

Naruto got the message and found himself in that old familiar situation, he knew what she wanted and kissed her. He laid her back resting her head on the pillows and looked her over, it made her feel like the only woman in the world as she saw the look in his eyes.

"Don't move," he said.

The moment took her breath away and she could only manage a slight nod as she was trying to keep her body from fidgeting from excitement. He kissed her on her neck causing her to shudder, he ran his hand all over her as continued to kiss her all over her body. His hands found their way to her breasts as he massaged them and rolled her nipples between his fingers, his hands were followed by his mouth as he began to suck them making her moan lightly as his hands were scouting her womanhood. His mouth once again followed his hands and he began to lick and suck her sex causing her to moan louder as one of his hands moved back to her breasts.

"Naruto," she called for him.

Hearing his name and seeing how ready she was he came back to her and thinking she was a bit more experienced than his other suitors in the Leaf Village, he slid inside of her but found a surprise.

"You're a…"

"Yes," she said winching from the discomfort of feeling him at her barrier.

"Just tell me when you're ready."

She took a few seconds to get used to it then gave him the okay as she wrapped her legs around his waist, he slid in completely and started to make love to her.

"Naruto," she moaned when her lips weren't occupied by his.

Her goal was being accomplished in ways she could never have imagined as she felt like the world vanished as they made love. The passion he showed her was so intense and the attention he gave her was more then she'd ever received in her life, she could feel herself getting closer as she dug her finger nails into his back leaving scratches for the Nine Tailed Fox to heal. She let out a loud moan as they found their release together and laid together in the bed, he held her close to him as tightly as possible seeming almost territorial against the rest of the world. As they laid in bed together, a thought creeped into Naruto's mind.

"I gotta say, the guys after the hotel manager are pretty patient, they haven't made a single move since we've been here."

She smiled as she saw him looking at her knowingly.

"Sorry," she said. "It's the only way I could think to get you alone."

"No, biggie, but now it makes sense why Gaara and Kankuro wouldn't look me in the eye."

"I understand if you want to leave," she said hoping he wouldn't.

"That's up to you, aren't you the client?"

They spent the next few days at the hotel together and he continued to make her feel special in everyway, physically as he made love to her when ever she desired in anyway she desired. Mentally, as he discussed subjects such as politics and the conditions of the shinobi world and emotionally, as he let her pour her heart out to him whenever she needed to. She told him about how her relationship with Shikamaru fizzled out before it really got started.

"He's a great guy," she said. "He can be sweet sometimes but it's really just to shut me up, I want my man to love me because he wants to not because I made him."

As soon as she said those words, she realized that that's what she just did to Naruto.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto," she said. "I didn't realize."

"Don't worry about it," he said calming her down with a kiss. "It's not like I didn't enjoy it myself, I mean, I did come to you a few times over the past few days, didn't I?"

At ease, she smiled and they started to make love again, she started to feel that she'd kept him away from his village and serious missions for too long and decided that it was time to leave but she held his hand the whole way back to her village wanting to maintain contact with him for as long as possible. When they got back, instead of a mission report, Naruto issued a threat to Gaara and Kankuro.

"Listen, you lying bastards," he said as they tried to look away in shame. "I'm going to get you back."

"What about Temari?" Kankuro protested.

"Don't worry about her," Naruto said. "I already got her back, over and over again. You two had just better watch your asses because I'm going to get you, you won't know when and you won't know were but I'm going to get you back."

He pointed at them as he left with a vengeful look in his eyes, Temari walked him to the village gates to see him off.

"Do you remember what I said?" he asked as they embraced.

"Yes," she said. "Do you remember how you make me feel?"

"Yeah," he chuckled.

They shared a kiss and he left for his village, when he got back, he gave Tsunade his mission report and ran into Sakura as he was leaving Hokage Tower.

"Thank you, Naruto," she said as she surprised him with a hug.

"For what?" he asked.

"I took your advice and talked to Sasuke."

"Oh, yeah," he realized. "What happened?"

"Well, he transferred from the ANBU division and became a regular jonin so that he could spend more time with me."

"That's great," he said. "Told you, you just needed to talk to him, so things are great now, right?"

"Yeah, you should see him he's a new man, I think it was all that murdering in the ANBU that made him act so strange."

"Hey, I'm glad I could help," Naruto said with a smile. "What about your duties as a medic?"

"It's going great, I've really buckled down and Sasuke's been so supportive that he lets me practice on him when I need it. I've also taken your other advice and decided to do something that not even Lady Tsunade's been able to do."

"What's that?" he asked.

"I'm working on a way to cure paralysis."

"Really?" Naruto asked with a smile. "Wow, that'd awesome."

"If you ever need me for something, just ask," she said as she left.

"Okay."

As Naruto walked through the village, he was cornered by Moegi with her teammates Konohamaru and Udon.

"Hey, Naruto," she said wrapping her arms around him.

"Oh, hey," he said hugging her back. "Hey, Konohamaru, Udon."

"Big Bro," Udon said as Konohamaru stood silent watching Moegi with her death grip on Naruto.

"What's wrong with you?" Naruto asked Konohamaru.

"Nothing," Konohamaru said before walking away with his head down.

"What's his problem?" Naruto asked Udon.

"He's Konohamaru," Moegi said.

"Do we have to say anything more?" Udon added making Naruto chuckle.

"Take it easy on him, okay?"

"Forget about him, Naruto," Moegi said. "My birthdays coming up this Friday."

"Yeah," Naruto said. "Am I invited?"

"Of course you are," she said.

"Good, now I gotta find a gift."

"You don't have to worry about that, Naruto. Besides, I'm sure I'll love whatever you have to give me."

"Yeah, well," Naruto chuckled nervously separating the two of them. "I have to get home, I just came from a mission."

"Okay, I'll give you the info later," Moegi said.


	7. Party Planning

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AND/OR THE CHARACTERS**

**Party Planning**

Naruto was walking through the village with Hanabi, he usually didn't find himself spending time with her but there was a special reason.

"Thanks for coming with me," Naruto said. "I figured that since she's turning eighteen, she'd want something a little more feminine but I wouldn't know what to give her."

"No problem, Naruto," she stuttered like Hinata used to. "I'm happy to help."

They walked to the stores that Hanabi suggested, which was part of her plan to spend as much time with him as possible as she'd let him pick something out then shoot it down. Her plan worked better than normal as her nervousness around him and the fact that he didn't know of her crush on him made her particularly difficult to read and he never picked up on what she was doing.

"Are you okay?" he asked noticing who antsy she was.

"Yes, I just want to help out as much as possible," Hanabi said. "She's like a sister to me too."

After a little more searching, Naruto grew weary and decided to take a break.

"You wanna take a second to get something to eat?"

At her suggestion, they went to Ichiraku for lunch.

"Who's your friend?" Teuchi asked.

"This is Hinata's little sister, Hanabi. She's helping me pick out a gift for Moegi's birthday this Friday."

"That's nice," Ayame said. "So what will you have?"

"You know I can't live without Miso," Naruto said with a smile on his face.

"Uh, I'll have beef," Hanabi said.

"I didn't know you like ramen," Naruto said. "We could've been hanging out a long time ago."

"Well, I figure that if you like it," she said. "Then it must be good."

She was so nervous when they served the food that it took her several attempts to make proper use of her chopsticks.

"So what am I doing wrong?" he asked. "You don't seem to like any of the gifts I picked out."

"Well, Moegi and Sakura share some similar characteristics," Hanabi said. "What did you get her for her eighteenth birthday?"

"Well, when I gave Sakura her gift, I didn't really have too much time to think about it because of everything that was going on so I just picked out the prettiest thing I could find. Now that I think about it, she appreciated the gesture but didn't like the gift itself."

They continued to talk until she turned the conversation to him and her sister, if nothing else, to see if she had any chance in the future.

"So, do you like my sister a lot?" Hanabi asked.

"Uh, yeah," Naruto answered. "She's very nice and sweet, I remember when I defeated Kiba in the chunin exams and she gave me some medicine even though I'd just defeated her teammate."

"Oh, I had no idea she could be that nice," Hanabi said.

"Really?"

"I'm just joking," Hanabi admitted. "We bicker but my sister is very nice and she really likes you, I saw her after your date the other day and she was really giddy, I've never seen a Hyuuga that happy."

"Wow," Naruto said. "I didn't know I had that affect, I'm lucky that someone like her like's me, I must be doing something right."

They finished their break and went back to searching for Moegi's gift.

"Maybe you should forget about the feminine thing because she sees you as a brother, right?"

"Yeah," Naruto answered.

"Well, those types of gifts are reserved for female friends and boyfriends so you should just get her something that a brother would get."

Naruto thought about it then he thought about what he got for Temari on her eighteenth birthday.

"I got her an hour glass."

"An hourglass?" Hanabi asked. "Was there anything special about it?"

"Yeah, it had an engraving that said 'True friendship is more eternal than the sands of time' or something like that. As a matter of fact, I got it here in the village."

"Do you remember the store?"

"Yeah."

They went to the store and Naruto found the perfect gift for her, he walked her home and they talked some more until they got to her home.

"Well, this was a fun date," she slipped.

She realized what she said and became nervous.

"I'm sorry," she chuckled nervously.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "I mean, we did go shopping and had lunch so I guess it was a date."

Her heart was a flutter when she heard him say that.

"He's so kind, I'm sure he'll make Hinata happy," she thought.

At that moment, she realized what she was going to do, she was going to do what Hinata once did for Sakura and put her feelings aside.

"Well, it was nice dating you," Naruto said smiling.

He went in to kiss her on the cheek but she had other plans.

"I may never get a chance to do this again," she thought as she turned her head so that their lips met.

Surprised, he pulled his head away quickly but not before she snuck a little tongue in.

"Sorry," she chuckled nervously again.

"Don't w…"

Before he could finish, she ran into the house before she did anything else stupid. He just left but he wasn't finished with his duties in Moegi's party, as she had asked him if they could have the party at his house since it was big enough and anywhere else they could've had it was unavailable. He was setting his home up and Tenten volunteered to help but with his ability to create a massive amount of clones, he was done in a matter of minutes and they just hung out and tried to put together a playlist of songs for the party.

"Not this," Tenten said.

"What, you don't like 'Son of a Gun?'"

"It's good but not party music, we should go with 'Go'"

"Hell, yeah," Naruto said. "I love that song, we are fighting dreamers."

They looked at each other and with only one thing on their minds.

"Oli oli oli oh, just go my way," they sang as they smiled at each other.

They bursted out into laughter as they continued to looked through the songs, that's when Naruto found a certain song that he decided to play.

"Oh, no, you didn't play Yura Yura," Tenten said getting up. "You know we gotta dance, right?"

She draped her arms on his shoulders with her fingers clasped behind his neck as he did the same around her waist and sang to her, his singing was less than average, to say the least, but she loved that he was doing it. The fact that he was doing something he doesn't normally do for her reminder her of when they started seeing each other.

"You have a beautiful singing voice," she smiled as she lied earning a pinch on the butt. "Ow, what was that for?"

"Liar," he smiled.

"Well, what do I get for telling the truth?"

"This," he a said giving her a kiss.

"If that's what I get for telling the truth, then your singing is terrible, I once wore one Guy-sensei's suits to train in, and I once had to kiss Lee on a mission and he wasn't terrible."

She got what she wanted as he kissed her again, the kiss deepened as he felt her tongue entering his mouth. They started losing themselves and their hands started to move all over their bodies, they undressed each other and he kissed her in the center of her collarbone then down her chest. She pulled them down to the floor of his living room and he slid inside of her.

"Naruto," she sighed in pleasure.

He started to thrust but that wasn't all he was doing as he sang the words to 'Yura Yura' as it played again on repeat.

"You're crazy," she said as the words gave her as much emotional pleasure as Naruto gave her physical.

Naruto sang the song 9 more times when she could no longer hold it in and climaxed, he kissed her as he climaxed right after she did. They lied on the floor next to each other listening to the song when she felt that she had to get something off of her chest.

"I think it's funny that the name of this group is Hearts Grow because that's what happens to me when I'm around you, Naruto," she said. "My heart grows. What I'm trying to say is that I l…"

"If you're going to be having sex in your living room," Sasuke said as he stood in the door. "You should lock the front door."

"Point taken," Naruto said.

"That's what Tenten just said," Sasuke joked.

They looked at him in shock.

"Did you just tell a _funny_ joke?" Naruto asked covering his privates. "I guess I got lucky for real."

"Why did you interrupt us?" a very angry Tenten asked as she got dressed behind Naruto who assumed that it was because of Sasuke's intrusion.

"I have to talk to loverboy about something in private."

Once Tenten was dressed, Naruto put his clothes on and went outside with Sasuke to talk.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked.

"I've never been good at talking like this," Sasuke admitted. "So, I'll just come out and say it."

"Say what?"

"Thank you, you saved Sakura and I's relationship."

"Oh, she told me," Naruto said. "No problem, you two are my best friends."

"Yeah, well, there's something I need to ask you."

"What?"

"Well, I want you to be at my side when we Sakura and I get married."

"So, you're finally going to do it?"

"Yeah, things were rocky but after we took your advice, everything's been great. And not killing people every other night has done wonders for my psyche."

"Just let me know what you need and I'm on it."

"Thanks again."

Sasuke left and Naruto went back inside to find Tenten getting ready to leave.

"You're going?"

"Yeah, I have to get to my job," she said giving him a kiss on the cheek as she left.

As Naruto continued to work, Moegi was still plotting on her best course of action.

"I've got it," she said to herself as she got a brilliant idea. "There's no way he can say no, now I just have to find something to wear."

She went out into the village in search of an outfit that may make Naruto see her differently.

"What does he like?"

She thought about the girls that she'd seen Naruto and what they wore around him.

"Ino wears clothes that are form fitting, Tenten's clothes are a little more loose but still show her body a little, Kin dresses a little more flashy and Hinata's are more practical," she thought. "I never thought about it before but the girls he hangs around with are all over the place."

She went to shop after shop until she found the perfect outfit for her party.

"This is perfect," she thought as she tried it on in the shop mirror. "This will make him notice me as a woman for sure."

While she shopped, Hanabi was at home thinking about the kiss she snaked from Naruto.

"His lips are so soft," she thought. "Why couldn't I have been born a few years earlier? I'd have made him mine from the second I saw him. I hope Hinata's able to get her claws into him, at least, I'll be able to see him more often that way."

Ino was at the library studying when Sakura happened upon her.

"Hey, piggy."

"Shhh," the librarian shushes.

"Sorry," Sakura said embarrassed. "Studying again?"

"Yeah," Ino said.

"Shhh."

"Sorry," Ino apologized. "I have to if I want to improve."

"I have to ask…"

"Stop talking," the librarian said. "Or I will eat your life."

"Let's take this outside," Sakura suggested.

They went outside so they could talk free from the oppression of the librarian.

"Where were we, forehead girl?" Ino asked.

"I was going to ask you why your fat ass has been going so hard lately."

"It's because of Naruto," Ino said with a smile that Sakura had never seen on her face.

"Really?"

"Yeah, he makes me feel like I can do anything, he's helped me figure out who I want to be and support's me so that I can become that person."

"You sound pretty serious about him," Sakura said.

"I am, Lady Forehead," Ino said. "I've never had feelings this strong about anyone, including Sasuke."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know if it is that but I might be in love with him."

Sakura looked at Ino shocked, this was the first time she'd ever seen her best friend like this.

"Why aren't you sure?" she asked.

"Well, I've never been in love with anyone," Ino explained. "I mean, I know I love him but I don't know if I'm in love with him. How do you feel about Sasuke?"

"Well, he's like the air," Sakura said. "It's like I can't live without him. I mean, I know I was a stone cold bitch to Naruto when I did what I did but I was honest, Sasuke makes me feel like no other person has. Is that close to what you feel for Naruto?"


	8. Party Night

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AND/OR THE CHARACTERS**

**Party Night**

Moegi's party turned out to be quite an event, anyone who was anyone around her age was there if they weren't on a mission with Naruto being the guest of honor's guest of honor as she occupied most of his time which Hanabi took note of.

"What is she doing?" she thought. "I know he's like a brother to her but so is Udon and she's not all over him, Naruto sure can dance though."

Kin just watched with Anko as Naruto was becoming a living breathing party favor.

"So, how'd it go?" Anko asked.

"Well, he notices me," Kin said. "I just wonder if he has the same feelings for me like I have for him."

"I don't know if he does but it's his loss if he doesn't," Anko assured. "In other news, I think you may have new competition."

"Naw," Kin dismissed. "Moegi's just spending her birthday with someone who's a big factor in her life."

"Whatever you gotta tell yourself."

Hinata was dancing with Kiba as they talked about her process with Naruto.

"So, how's it going with him?"

"Great," she said. "He's everything I thought he'd be, kind, considerate, and smart."

"Smart?" Kiba asked.

"Yes, if people would just spend a few minutes with him they'd see just how intelligent he actually is. Hey, why are you dancing with me?"

"Oh, you're actually by bodyguard," Kiba said motioning towards a group of girls watching the two of them.

"Are they too much for you to handle?" Hinata asked with a smile.

"Yeah, Naruto seems like more of a catch since you and the competition are all over him but the girls don't want to have to deal with the rest of you and Sasuke's off the market so all the girls are all over me, Neji, and Shikamaru. I used to dream about this but it's really tiring."

"Poor, Kiba," she laughed.

"It's not funny."

While they danced, Naruto was being really evasive with Moegi as they danced.

"So, do you like my outfit?" she asked.

"It's nice," he said trying not to look at it.

It was a nice outfit but made him feel really uncomfortable since it showed off her features that were almost as nice as his lady friends, they were actually as nice but he didn't want to admit that to himself and she let her hair down which showed her beauty off in ways no one knew was possible. All male eyes were on her, including the two belonging to Konohamaru.

"So when are you going to open your gifts?" Naruto asked.

"Maybe a little later, right now, I just want dance," she said. "Besides, I only want one gift from you, Naruto."

"What?" he thought as his eyes widened.

"I want to go on a date," she asked.

"Okay," he said not thinking as he was too happy that she didn't say what he thought she might've. "Wait, what?"

"Great," she said. "When are you going to pick me up?"

"Wait we can't go on a date," he said trying to scramble out of the situation.

"You're not going back on your word, are you?" she asked knowing how to trap Naruto.

He was stuck as she said the magic word, there was no way he was going back on his word and she knew it.

"Fine," he said hanging his head in defeat.

"Okay," she said wanting to jump up and down. "Time to open the presents."

They went to open the presents and something strange happened, Konohamaru got in between Moegi and Naruto as if he was being territorial.

"What's his problem?" Naruto thought.

Moegi opened her presents and they were nice and well thought out items, even the green training suit from Lee had a lot of meaning behind it. It wouldn't have mattered what gift they gave her as she was too focused on her date with Naruto.

"I can't wear this again," she thought. "I've got to find something that will knock him dead, that's what Lady Tsunade says she used to do to get the guys."

One day, Moegi and her team came back from a mission, they were dismissed after reporting to Lady Tsunade but Moegi stayed behind.

"Can I help you with something?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes, Lady Hokage," Moegi said. "How do I make a man look at me?"

"Shit, I don't know, stand in front of him?"

"No, I mean _look_ at me."

"Oh," Tsunade said realizing. "If you want to get a man's attention, you have to give him something to look at."

"What do you mean?" Moegi asked as she only had a general idea of what men want.

"Watch this," Tsunade said as she took her green jacket of and pushed her breasts up.

She went to the window and stuck her chest out.

"Hello, Lady Tsunade," a bunch of male voices said.

"Well, not to brag," Tsunade said sitting back down. "But it isn't hard with these things strapped to my chest. The thing is that you don't want to just be another pretty face."

"What do you mean?"

"Just have something to say, pretty girls are a dime a dozen."

"Yes, ma'am."

"So, you're finally making your move on Konohamaru?" she asked with a sly smile.

Moegi just blushed and left before she was asked any other questions.

"Ah, to be young and in love," Tsunade said sitting back in her chair. "It'd sure beat being old and porked by a pervert."

"Achoo," Jiraiya sneezed as he ate some ramen with Naruto.

Konohamaru was standing at the party when Moegi was finished opening her presents, he could see that she was about to make for Naruto once again and something took over him.

"Hey, Moegi," he asked shyly.

"What the hell do you want?" she asked annoyed and impatient.

"You wanna dance?"

She was shocked that he asked and could see that he was being genuine, already having the date with Naruto in her back pocket, she accepted.

"Phew," Naruto said thinking he was finally able to sit down.

He was wrong as he was cornered by his lady friends and asked to dance by all of them, Naruto didn't want to hurt anyone and did the only thing he could think of and created a clone for each of them to dance with. They were all a little annoyed with having to dance with a clone but they overlooked it as they all had something to say to him.

"Naruto, I love you."


	9. What Makes You Happy?

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AND/OR THE CHARACTERS**

**What Makes You Happy?**

Naruto woke up in the morning when the sunlight reached his eyes through his bedroom window curtains, it had been a couple of weeks since his suitors confessed their love for him since he had to go on a mission the next day. He was happy because, in addition to his love for his work, the mission gave him a reprieve from his date with Moegi as well as a chance to think. He got out of the bed and opened the windows of his curtain to see his garden, the plants that he and Ino planted back there made him think about her. After taking a shower, he went down to make some breakfast and made some raspberry tea by chance which brought his mind to Tenten and the first night she came to his home. He cleaned up the dishes after he ate his breakfast and thoughts of Kin and the time she cooked and cleaned for him ran through his head.

"I'd better see what's going on in the village," he thought before heading for the door.

As he walked, he also thought about Hinata and about all the time he missed out with her.

"If I wasn't such an idiot and paid her more attention, I probably wouldn't be in this predicament."

As he traversed the village, he noticed that he hadn't seen any of them yet, normally he'd have seen at least of them by now. The reason he hadn't seen any of them is because they were at each of their homes thinking about him. Thoughts of being with Naruto as a true couple danced in their heads, Hinata thought about the two of them starting a new family and giving their children the type of love and support they never had. Kin desperately wanted to give Naruto her heart because she felt that it was the least she could do after he gave her a new life and a new start when he found her in the forest and talked his comrades into accepting her into the village. Tenten had found the only man in her life to treat her like a woman as Guy and Lee always treated her more like one of the guys and Neji, the man she once had a crush on, often ignored her completely unless it had something to do with being shinobi. Her thoughts were similar to that of Ino's who thought that she had finally found someone that paid her attention unlike Sasuke, like Kin, Naruto brought her back also. Back from her eating disorder and self-esteem issues making her one of the top Leaf Kunoichi around her age once again. All of them had their specific and fundamentally important reasons for wanting to be with Naruto but the fundamental problem was that he was in high demand but the supply was dangerously low.

"You up for some sparring?" Sasuke asked spotting Naruto walking about aimlessly. "Maybe I can knock some sense into you."

"You could try," Naruto said.

They went to the training grounds and began sparring but Sasuke could sense that something was wrong as he was doing things that wouldn't have worked against Naruto even with the sharingan activated.

"What's your problem?" Sasuke asked as he had Naruto's arm trapped behind his back.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked.

"You seem to be preoccupied."

Naruto gave it some thought and Sasuke saw in his face that there was a lot going on.

"I'm not letting you go until you spill it."

"They love me," Naruto said.

"Oh," Sasuke realized letting him go. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know man, I've never had anyone love me before. At least, not in that way, how do you handle it?"

"You don't handle it," Sasuke said. "You don't do anything to it, you just love them back."

"Man, this is the first time I've heard you talk like that," Naruto said surprised.

"It's the truth though, so who are you going to go with? It's not like you can have them all."

"I don't know," Naruto said defeated. "I'd ask Pervy Sage for advice but he'd just tell me to string them all along until I can't anymore."

"What about the hokage?"

"Yeah, you're right, I'll go see her."

As Naruto made his way to Hokage Tower, he noticed that there was someone else he hadn't run into yet.

"Where's Moegi?" he thought. "I figured she'd have tackled me by now."

He made it to Tsunade's office and found her with Sakura and Shizune.

"What can I do for you?" she asked.

"I'm having a few problems," he said. "Well, I don't know if I'd call it a problem but…"

"But what?" she asked.

They all listened as Naruto explained the situation to them including Temari but decided to leave out his situation with Moegi as he still wasn't comfortable with it.

"Well, well," Tsunade said. "I figured it'd just be a matter of time, you should've seen how many girls pledged their love to you father until he chose to be with Kushina."

"That's all well and good," Naruto said. "But I need help here, how do I make them happy?"

The three women that were closest to Naruto in a nonromantic way were stooped until Sakura spoke up.

"What about your happiness?"

"What?" Naruto asked.

"Remember what you said when you laid into me?"

"He laid into you?" Tsunade asked.

"Like an avalanche."

"Good for you, Naruto."

"Anyway," an annoyed Sakura said. "You said that you were staring happiness in the face and all you had to do was make a decision. So, why not just make a decision?"

"That was good to say at the time but now that it's really staring me in the face, I'm blinking."

"Well, if they really loved you, wouldn't they put your happiness first?" Shizune asked. "They shouldn't care who you pick."

They looked at him and could see how lost he was.

"Walk with me, Naruto," Sakura said.

He walked with Sakura and she lead him to the same park bench she sat with Naruto when he transformed into Sasuke during their first days as shinobi and the last place she saw Sasuke before he left the village.

"What are we doing here?" he asked.

"This is where I used to come to think about Sasuke when he was gone," she said. "And when our relationship was on the rocks, I find that it's quiet here and it let's you get your thoughts together. Now, think about things, like I told you before, what about your happiness?"

"I don't know, I mean, you know how easy I am. I could be happy with a stone and a piece of glass."

"Cut the shit, Naruto," she said. "You may have everyone else fooled with that idiotic smile but I know you better than that, now, who makes you the happiest?"

"They all make me happy but it's not just that."

"Well, what else is there?"

He told her of the other feelings he had for them, he felt like he needed to reward Tenten for being there first and Hinata for sticking to it for so long. As conceited as it made him feel, he also felt as if Ino would go spiraling back into her struggles with low self esteem if he didn't choose her and thus had to protect her from it.

"And Kin?" she asked.

"Kin? Actually, she's the only one that I don't really feel obligated to," Naruto admitted. "Yeah, it's like she's the only one that I'm just with."

"Well, let's focus on another aspect, what do you like the most about them?"

"Well, to think about it, I think I like Tenten, Ino, and Hinata for the same reasons I liked you that way. They know what it's like to be ignored by people, I can relate to them and I like Kin for the hell of it while I like Temari because she's never really been mean to me."

"You know what your problem is?" Sakura asked.

"What?"

"You're heart's too big, it's nice that you think about others first, in fact, it's a beautiful quality to have but sometimes you have to put yourself first. I can't tell you who to pick as you have good reasons to be with all of them but once in a while being selfish is the only way to be happy."

And with that, Sakura got up to leave him to think.

"Hey, Sakura," he said before she got too far away. "Have you seen Moegi?"

"Haven't you heard? She's dating Konohamaru now."


	10. Time To Make A Choice

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AND/OR THE CHARACTERS**

**Time To Make A Choice**

After a bit of thinking, Naruto got up as he had finally made his decision. While walking through the village, he ran into Moegi with her new boyfriend, Konohamaru.

"Hey, you two," he said smiling. "When did this happen?"

"At my party," Moegi said. "Whatever Hinata and the others said to you must've rocked you because you left without saying anything to anyone."

Naruto's clones each stood faced to face with each girl after they confessed their love for him and he had one question.

"You what?" he asked.

The girls each repeated their proclamations and Naruto was hit even harder now knowing that he heard them right. Unable to process this, he asked them for some time to get a handle on things, not wanting to force the issue, they obliged and he left giving them each a kiss. While this was happening, Konohamaru was dancing with Moegi and she noticed that he was different.

"Why the hell are you paying me so much attention all of the sudden," she asked. "Nice moves, by the way."

"Well, it's just that I kinda miss you," he said awkwardly.

"Miss me? I've been here all along."

"Yeah but I miss the way we used to be, I know that I was an ass but I wasn't able to really appreciate and see that I liked you too."

She stopped completely to study his face and could see that he was serious, remembering how bad she was hurt when he rejected her and merely turned her nose up at him.

"So you like me?" she asked doubting him. "Why? As I recall, I don't even measure up to Hanabi, why don't you go ask her to dance?"

"Well, I don't think I could even if I wanted too," Konohamaru replied. "Look."

She looked and saw Moegi sitting on Udon's lap while they made out.

"Well, she did say that she liked smart men," Moegi said. "I didn't know he could kiss like that though, damn. Anyway, I'm supposed to be happy coming in a second?"

"You're not coming in second," he said. "It's just that, well, you know how I'm an asshole."

"Yeah, you are an asshole," she agreed. "A big, huge gaping, stinking, double penetrated, irregular…"

"I think we've established it."

"Not yet, impacted, I think that's it."

"Okay, A, nice," he said. "And 2, I'm serious, as cliché as it sounds, I didn't know what I had until it was gone."

"Listen," she said. "My feet are starting to hurt so…"

He could see that he was quickly losing her and, as he always did, he thought about Naruto and what he'd do, specifically his interactions with his girlfriends and only one thing came to mind.

"I saw him do this with Tenten when she pretended to be angry with him," he thought as he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back.

"Hey," she shouted until she found herself pulled in for a kiss.

It surprised her at first being her first real kiss but she soon got into it as it brought back all of the feelings she had for him and she realized what her infatuation with Naruto really was.

"I think I was really after you because you're basically the first version of Konohamaru," she told Naruto. "All of the characteristics that I liked in Konohamaru were given to him by you."

"I guess," Naruto said as he was happy that he didn't have to deal with her any longer. "But I'm still kinda surprised."

"Why?" Konohamaru asked.

"It's just that when you love Naruto you love the best," he said grinning as they laughed.

"We'll see the next time we spar," Konohamaru challenged.

"You're on," Naruto said. "Well, I've gotta run, I gotta go make a good decision…I hope."

"Good luck," Moegi said giving him a hug. "I'm sure you'll make the right choice."

As they parted ways, Ino was at her family's private garden thinking about her and Naruto.

"I wonder what he's doing right now," she thought as she looked at the same flowers that he used to leave at her hospital beside. "This is all my fault, if hadn't wasted so much time competing with Little Miss Forehead over Sasuke, maybe I could've seen him for the person he really is."

She just sat down amongst the flowers as her eyes welled up.

"I don't know what I'd do without him."

Tenten was at her home in her room staring at the dress and jewelry bought her after their first night together. She was considering the possibilities of Naruto picking or not picking her.

"Shit, I was here first," she said. "Well, really, Hinata was, but I was the one who bedded him first. But he wasn't the one that wanted to keep it a secret so that's my fault, hopefully, that mistake won't come back to bite me in the ass. He bit me on the ass once, I liked it."

At the Hyuuga Estate, Hinata was talking with her sister about her new boyfriend.

"I must say that this has come to a surprise," Hinata said. "I never knew you liked Konohamaru's friend."

"I've always liked smart men," Hanabi admitted. "But to tell you the truth, I used to have a crush on Naruto, he was smart."

"I knew."

"You did?" Hanabi asked surprised. "How?"

"I'm a Hyuuga, perception what we do," Hinata pointed out. "Not to mention the fact that you used to throw yourself at him when you were with Moegi. At least you were a little more upfront with it than I was, now there's a possibility that I'm going to miss out on him again. At least I got to be with him, I'll treasure this time with him forever even if he chooses to spend his life with someone else."

"This is me, not father," Hanabi said. "You don't have to be so prim and proper."

"I want Naruto," Hinata admitted as they laughed.

"I hope you get him, sister. You deserve it."

"I hope so too."

Kin was walking back to her home after training with Anko, after their training, they had a conversation about Naruto.

"So, you told him that you love him?" Anko asked. "What did he say?"

"He said that he needed some time to think," Kin answered. "That's understandable given the situation."

"No," Anko said. "If he loved you he'd have said it back the second he told you, this is Naruto we're talking about here."

"Exactly," Kin defended. "This is really the first time in his life that anyone's told him that, let alone four different women at once."

"I guess but if I were you, I'd have told him that either he loves me or he doesn't and that's the way it is."

Kin thought about it as she got out of the shower and she started to think that maybe Anko was right as she always had a man hanging around her.

"But when's the last time anyone's seen her in a serious relationship?" she asked. "Besides, Anko gives good advice could not be more opposite of the truth, I guess I'm just playing the waiting game."

While all of Naruto's friends from the Leaf were vacillating over him, their rival from the Sand Village entered the Village seeking resolution on her last meeting with Naruto. He had been sent to the Sand Village to assist in a legitimate mission this time, when he was finished, he was cornered by Temari before he was about to leave.

"Hey, I really have to get back to the village," he said as hearing the other girls feelings made him uncomfortable having sex with Temari again.

"This won't take long," she said with a different look in her eye than on the night they first made love. "I'll walk you to the cliffs."

As they walked, she was quiet, which was unexpected but he could see that something was going on in her head.

"Okay," he said as they finally reached the cliffs. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she said. "I've been trying to find a way to put these words together, Naruto."

"Just say it, I've never known you to have trouble with words and it's not like we don't know each other."

"It's just that you've changed my life so much since you spoke those words to me the last time we saw each other and you've been the only thing on my mind since then that I've almost blown a mission," she explained. "What I'm trying to say is that I love you."

She kissed Naruto before he could say anything, when she pulled back, he looked into her eyes and saw the seriousness.

"Okay," he thought. "That just happened."

"Well?" she asked hopefully.

"Don't take this the wrong way," Naruto said. "But I'm going to need some time to work this out."

The wind blew a mini sand tornado around them as they hugged each other then she watched him walk away into the desert carrying the key to her heart with him unsure of what to do with it.

"Being the sister of the Kazekage has it's advantages," she thought. "I have enough time to settle this."

Naruto continued to walk through the village until he saw her, the woman he was going choose to be with for the rest of his life.


	11. Happy

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO AND/OR THE CHARACTERS**

**Happy**

Naruto saw the love of his life as she stood outside of a jewelry store looking in the window at the jewelry admiring them.

"Wow," Ino thought. "They've got some new inventory, I guess this is from the S-Ranked Mission Sasuke, Neji, and Lee were on."

She was so enamored with their new inventory that she barely noticed the two people walking inside.

"There are those pigs Naruto showed me," Ino thought. "I didn't like them before but they…"

Her concentration was broken by the salesman taking them from the display, upon further inspection, she noticed that he was selling them to someone as another person was buying what seemed to be a very expensive engagement ring.

"Aw," she said as she watched the person buying the ring. "Somebody's getting married, I hope it's someone I know."

She went back to admiring the jewelry after the two people left the store, a minute later she was surprised by two hands covering her eyes.

"If this isn't Naruto, you're going to be in for a world of hurt," she growled.

"I bet it'd still fell good," he whispered softy into her ear causing a tingle in her spine.

"Well, not all of us as a demon healing us," she said turning around as his hands slid down to her waist and she draped her arms around her his shoulders.

"Hey, this demon isn't as helpful as you'd think," he said smiling at her.

While they bantered back and forth, she was surprised as she felt someone putting something in her hair.

"What the…?" she asked feeling her hair.

She turned to look at her reflection in the mirror to find the pig hairclips in her blonde locks.

"When did you…?"

"To quote Kakashi-sensei, 'A shinobi needs to look underneath the underneath,'" he said smiling at her before transforming into the person she saw buying them just a minute ago.

"Okay," she said. "So you're good, what have you been up to anyway?"

"Uh, well, you know how it is," he said after transforming back. "Missions and missing you."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he said smiling.

"Well that's all well and good, hot shot but who's to say that I've been missing you?"

"Please, I know how much you missed me."

"How?"

Without saying another word, Naruto let her go and began walking a way.

"Wait, where are you going?" she asked frantically.

"You should see your face," he said turning around smiling at her.

"You're horrible."

"Hey, come with me."

Unable to say no, she followed him as he lead her to somewhere secluded but was full of a beautiful floral arrangement.

"What is this?" she asked confused.

"Well, I've been doing some thinking after what you told me that night at Moegi's party and I've come to a decision."

He took her by the hand and her heart began racing as he faced her.

"Really?" she asked trying to hide her nerves. "Well, what did you think about?"

"Us…" he said.

"Is he going to say it?" she asked so nervous that she didn't realize that he was speaking to her.

"…you too."

"Wait, what?" she asked.

"I said I love you too," he said louder.

"Right in my ear."

"Sorry."

The ringing in her ear quickly left as she realized that he'd just said.

"You what?" she asked both surprised and hopeful that she heard him correctly.

"I said I love you too," he repeated.

Her heartbeat increased more as did her breathing, she started fanning herself as she took in the information.

"Well, say something," Naruto said.

"I don't know what to say," she admitted. "This is the first time something like this has happened to me."

"Well, then, you're about to become a mute," he said getting on one knee.

"What are you doing?" she asked confused.

"Read my thoughts," he said smiling.

She placed a hand on his forehead and began to search his thoughts until she found what he wanted her to tell her.

"Yes," she said as he pulled out the ring and placed it on her finger.

The only thing she could figure to do was hug him as tightly as she could as he smiled and returned her embrace. A few days later, Naruto was with Sasuke as he was about to take his team from the academy, Naruto was there for two reasons. One reason was to continue his rivalry with Sasuke by raising a better squad of Genin and the other was that, like Sasuke, he decided that this would give him more time to spend in his new relationship. As they walked to the academy together, Sasuke became uncharacteristically talkative and the preferred subject was Naruto and Ino.

"I gotta say," Sasuke began. "If someone would've asked me who you would've ended up with when we were younger, I'd have said Sakura, Hinata, or even Anko before Ino."

"Yeah," Naruto said. "It's still a shock to me too, being engaged takes a little getting used to but it's great."

"Want a little advice?" Sasuke offered.

"Shoot."

"She's right, you're wrong," he said flatly. "Remember that."

"What?" Naruto asked confused.

"That's right," Sasuke said as he began laughing. "Ask anyone, fella, things may be cool because you're in that new 'We Just Got Engaged' stage but at some point, she's gonna start bitchin' you out at the drop of a hat. Especially for three days out of the month, welcome to hell, Naruto."

"Man, shut up," Naruto said annoyed.

"No, seriously though," Sasuke said regaining his usual reserve. "Relationships are a lot of work but you'll find that it's worth it and you two already have a leg up."

"What do you mean?"

"You both like gardening, after a while, Sakura was less fanatical about our relationship and it became normal. Then we had to find things to do together but outside of being shinobi, we found that we didn't have a lot in common."

"Really?" Naruto asked surprised. "I figured that you both loved you more than anything else."

"Well, there was the sex we both enjoyed," Sasuke said with a smile on his face. "Those were a fun couple of weeks. But like I said we worked at it and we realized that it the one thing we had in common was that we loved being around each other and made an effort to be around each other as much as possible. What about your other friends?"

"I talked to them about it and they were disappointed but they were happy for me I'm still friends with all of them."

As Naruto and Sasuke talked, Sakura was in the hospital lab with Ino as they were both doing some research, Sakura tried to focus on her work but she couldn't as she wanted to talk about Ino and Naruto.

"So…"

"I love being with him," Ino answered already knowing the question. "He's the best."

"Wow, it seems like being with him agrees with you," Sakura admitted. "Ever since you got involved with him you just seem to have this glow about you."

"I can't help it, I just feel like I'm in heaven when I'm with him. And he doesn't judge me, I can eat like as much as I want to and he doesn't look at me sideways."

"Really?"

"Yeah, sometimes, it leads to, uh, you know, which I love."

"Yeah, you are a slut," Sakura teased.

"And he has incredible stamina so that makes it better, anyway, I've never felt like this before though."

"How?"

"Happy," Ino said with a smile and tear in her eye. "I think for the first time in my life, I'm actually happy."

Later that day, Ino was leaving the hospital after finishing her research for the day, she was surprised to find Naruto waiting on her.

"I thought you had to get your genin team today."

"That's why I have clones," he said. "I wasn't going to have them do anything today besides meeting each other. Besides, I couldn't wait until later to see you."

"That's so sweet," she said smiling as she hugged him.

They began to move through the village unwilling to break the contact with each other, both happier than they've been in their lives.

**MESSAGE FROM lulamaemobster**

**I'D JUST LIKE TO SAY THANK YOU TO ALPHA T. SIGMA FOR LETTING CONTINUE THE STORY, I CAN ONLY HOPE THAT YOU LIKE IT HALF AS MUCH AS I LIKED THE ORIGINAL. ALSO, ANYONE OUT THERE, PERSONAL MESSAGE ME YOUR E-MAILS AND WHO YOU'D RATHER NARUTO HAVE CHOSEN AND I'LL SEND YOU AN ALTERNATE ENDING DEPENDING ON THAT PERSON. NO WEIRD STUFF PLEASE, KEEP IT BETWEEN THE CHOICES HE HAD IN THE STORY.**


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